genessia | ( video )

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[When the feed initializes, the sky pirate is reclined against a small desk and is holding a small scepter, aquamarine in color, and though worn, still shining.]

There was still something to be found in those ruins. Fancy that.

[He moves, the scepter sliding into a hip pouch before he faces the video communicator more fully.]

A successful treasure hunt is food for the soul, you know. Hmm, we should do this more often. Surely there are more ruins to be found beyond one of these archways, and if we find them before someone prints it in the papers, everything we find there is rightfully ours.

[He smiles.]

I tire of repairing someone else's hovers, at any rate. Any juicy gossip? Rumors?

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Ah, of course. How foolish of me. A Paling is a...ward I suppose you could say, against fiends.

Ah! That explains things - and... well we do. There are protective wards against fiends and other things - one of our guild members, Freed, specializes in runes like that. He isn't here though.

Well, I certainly don't have the resources to build a Paling here. They're massive structures, and they protect entire cities.

That's..incredible. If a little inconvenient - Freed's runes could do the same thing, but the only resource needed to maintain it is your own energy. Not that that's anything to sniff at - it can be pretty dangerous for a mage if they run out of magic energy... maybe it's better to have 'Palings' if they're self sustainable. Wouldn't it be possible to make a smaller version of something like that..? What kind of resources do they use?

Large chunks of Magicite. It's normally self-powering. Only in times of crisis do they require reinforcement.

Magicite... I've never heard of it. I don't think there's anything like that around here.

Quite so, I've noticed. Though, there are other sources of fuel to be found.

There are beasts and things here that i didn't expect to be - I wonder if there might be something like what you're talking about here. But you're right about other sources of fuel -- Are the Palings only sustained by magicite? Could something else be used in its place?

...I've never tried to reverse-engineer a Paling, so I don't rightly know. [He looks thoughtful for a moment.] Probably, given time.

[He nods, though, looking upward, but not at anything.] There are. The domes. They keep out very nasty things, from what I've heard.

Hm... yeah, they do. About... half a year ago, give or take a month, some of those 'nasty' things were trying to get in past Everglade's barrier. Evil Spirits. They were...huge, horrifying things. Smaller ones were able to slip past the cracks that the spirits made in the barrier, and they attacked the people of Everglade. No one died, I think, but anyone who came in contact with those things lost their emotions, their morals. It was like the spirits sucked everything that made them "them" right out.

Most of us were split between fighting off the spirits, and finding the spirits of Genessia and Everglade to find a way to repair the barrier. [ Her expression darkened slightly at the memory. ]

With the exception of the coward of a 'man' that lives in Everglade, Vlad, who was more interested in trying to steal Everglade's power and make the barriers fall. My partner and I fought him off and made him retreat to his castle there. Everything after that is kind of fuzzy - I was bound to one of the spirits, and it took a lot of my energy so I ..kind of collapsed for a few days after that. When I woke up, everything was back to normal though.

You don't say. That sounds awful.

[Balthier is much more concerned about this news than his tone suggests, though there is a hint of concern in his voice when he continues.]

Vlad? You wouldn't mean the man currently running for Guardian there, would you? I saw his broadcast.

[ She grimaces at the question, resisting the urge to facepalm from the reminder at the sheer nerve Vlad had. She ended up looking a bit like she sucked a lemon in the end. ]

Mph - unfortunately, that's one in the same. The current Everglade Guardian supposedly intended to do something about him, but... [ She didn't have much of an opinion of that guy. She shrugged. ]

He claimed my testimonial against Vlad's wasn't good enough, [ Somehow she manages to keep the irritation out of her voice. ] and the spirits of Genessia and Everglade were unwilling to cooperate. So the maniac continues to go free, claims innocence in his involvement, and has the nerve to try to be Guardian.

That sounds like quite the undertaking, what this Vlad was going for. Was there no evidence, then? Just your testimony?

Unfortunately. We would have had Genessia and Everglade's spirits testimony as well if they had cooperated - but it seems they only wanted to involve themselves in 'mortal affairs' during emergencies, or when they need help, and won't have anything to do with them other than that. That's why I believe he'll claim innocence in the matter. Even if a psychic were to probe my mind of the incident, I'm sure he'll claim it was fabricated, and he was innocent.

And no one else witnessed this? There is no evidence? No...transmissions over this network? Nothing?

[ She exhaled softly. That was the whole issue that infuriated her. Because they didn't have *proof*, but she knew it was factual and true. But because she didn't have evidence or proof that she could present beyond her word, it was their word against his. And he knew it. ]

None. Everglade was being evacuated at the time, so there weren't any citizens - that I'm aware of - that were around to see the incident.

Is that right? [He can definitely see where doubt comes into play.] For what it's worth, I believe you.

[ It was hugely frustrating. But she blinks in surprise, and then flashes a smile at Balthier. ]

Thank you, I'm relieved to know that.

[ She hated to think that people who just arrived might be taken in by Vlad's words. If he hadn't creeped her out so much when she arrived with Natsu, she might have been fooled herself. ]

He reminds me of someone. [But that's all he's going to say. Really, he doesn't want to get into his father's madness with anyone. Still, he can recognize insanity when he sees it.] Someone who certainly has no need for more power.

I see. [ No need to push, and who he reminded Balthier of wasn't really important, she thinks. ]

You're absolutely right, though. The possibility, slim as it is, that he'd get enough votes from his allies here, to elevate him to position of Guardian is terrifying, to be honest.

Then I suppose I should decide whom to vote for in Everglade aside from our dear friend Vlad.

Fai seems a reliable candidate. I'll be voting for him this election round.

And what does he have to offer?

Keep an eye on the network, I'm sure he'll be introducing himself and his campaign in a few days. And there'll be a public debate in a few weeks, so you can ask questions of the candidates there too.

I don't know him so well, but given the other alternative, Ted - well I don't have a great deal of confidence in his ..competence. He managed well enough this last few months, but that could have been dumb luck. More than that, the last time I spoke to him, he gave the impression of someone who runs his mouth without facts about other people's private life. I could be silly about it, but I'm just not comfortable with either of them in office. Fai has to be a better choice.

This Ted sounds like a very good politician.

[He chuckles, even if she doesn't get the tongue-in-cheek joke.]

I will do so. Thank you for the information.

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