I'm going to Exile to cut out a piece of my soul under the supervision of someone I met on the internet, in case this goes as badly as it sounds could I by any chance get a ride back?
Yes. I need to pack some things in case it takes a day or two, and put out something unlikely to rot for the cat. It's a swamp, so probably extra boots?
This would be easier in Midgar. Do I need malaria vaccines? What KIND of swamp is Exile?
You can think of it mostly similar to the swamps around Midgar. More fog, some seasonal change.
It's not exactly mako or Lifestream but if it were on our world, that's what the air's filled with. Monsters will be strong there. There's a few places we need to avoid and we can't stay for very long.
[ Not even Vincent. Well, he's never tried to live there and while his 'self-exile' from the world might count, he's no longer really of that world either. He can probably stay a little bit longer than some. Either way a few days probably isn't going to be problematic especially when their intent is not to stay. ]
Your Esuna should be enough. And the Cure materia.
[ Yeah he knows about it. Also, footsteps and knocking. He's here. Here to look very stern. ]
In that case I'm bringing an extra weapon too. With luck this will be in and out in short order.
[That might be asking too much, but he's got most of what he wants packed up already. It just means he's now taking BOTH swords and both materia, and as there's a knock on the door, quietly slipping his locket into a pocket in his overcoat. It might be summer, but layers might be a good idea in a bog.
The door is opened, but Sephiroth's not lingering there, he's going back to hunting things he thinks he might need. Exile could be, he'd heard, worse than Cruel Summer. If he prepared for longer trips there, he should here too.]
Please don't tell Nero we're going. I don't want him worrying.
[It's okay if Vincent worries, because Vincent will actually be there. ... Hm, extra socks. He's going to bring both pair he owns just in case.]
[ It's a swamp, Sephiroth. Extra socks. Extra underwear. Absolutely important. Please say he has extra underwear.
Vincent closes the door behind him and simply begins drifting after Sephiroth, easily staying out of the youth's right of way. Is it reminescent of some other creature's patterns of behavior? Maybe. ]
I've got no plans to bring Nero into this. [ The gunman speaks with absolute sincerity. ] But I need you to explain what you know. This isn't something Mayerling suggested, is it.
[Does he even NOTICE that there's behaviors rather like a certain cat? No, he's not paying attention, but it's automatic how he moves like he intends to step over or around something underfoot.
Or just avoiding brass boots.]
Good. I feel like he's had enough stress for one lifetime.
[Everything he heard about Deepground made it worse. Well, this might help with that too, in time.]
Not Mayerling at all. I'd been in a discussion with someone about the situation in Midgar and ... how I'm on my own for almost all of it. Eventually it came around to another world that snaps up people like Thirteen does, called 'Trench', and how basic magic there allows them to conjure up and externalize a part of their soul up as a guardian and ally.
[Slowly, an extra shirt is added. It looks like a school backpack, it probably IS a school backpack, but that would be enough.]
Given Thirteen allows us to learn things that are abilities from other worlds, it seems like one that would be very useful to have, since ... I can't ..really take anyone with me, but I can take myself.
[ Those boots are pointy and sharp tipped. Careful. Vincent seems to be inclined to agree about Nero and Deepground, though it's only acknowledged with a slight tilt of his head in the affirmative. ]
And you've seen examples of this type of... summoning magic? Working here in Folkmore?
[ That's in fact quite pointed. Is Sephiroth working on just what some guy on the relic told him would happen when he exposed his soul in a place of high magic concentration? Also summoning magic is the closest thing it sounds like to him. He's aware it's not exactly that.
Vincent pauses beside the backpack. Yes, he's going to poke around, see what Sephiroth has already packed. Make suggestions if he finds something he'd find important. Nothing to suggest he's going to try to block Sephiroth from doing this. Yet. ]
I realize that's probably why you contacted me. [ A ride home notwithstanding. ] But I don't like the sound of this. Did you have to tell him anything about you to earn this information?
[ Yeah they talked about Midgar but given the circumstances of the conversation it sounds like some things about Sephiroth himself could have been mention, and how it might translate to a soul guardian. ]
[Extra socks, extra shirt and pants. A lot of little ration cubes, spoon, bottle of water, collapsable bowl, relic. Priority seems mostly meal-oriented over other supplies, but the bowl and spoon should take care of most of that.
He's made sure he has Lore to spare this time.]
I have, but only once. I've been told that 'Maul', one of the jedi, is also capable of doing it but haven't seen it in person.
[MAUL IS NOT A JEDI.]
Not much. ....In truth, I think it was offered because of a .. debt. [Maybe a bandage. Or he can just make those as needed later.] The .. I'm almost certain it's the blind elf I fished out of Cruel Summer at the tail end of the wildfires, right after I returned. Thirteen dropped him miles from water, never mind civilization.
[ Jedi, jedi... right, he's heard that term. Some young lady asking about what photographs were.
...As far as Vincent's concerned, Maul may as well be a jedi. Unless he's privy to some conversation between student and teacher thanks to kitty which.... he probably wouldn't bother correcting anyway. He really isn't sure what the whole space wizard thing is about other than 'maybe a religion'?
Maybe. That's pushing his active levels of concern about that knowledge. However he is aware that Maul has been a fixture in Sephiroth's life and having that as a secondary confirmation that this 'soul guardian summon' is not just a bait to lure the teen out into the middle of nowhere and siphon off his soul...
Well it could still be that. ]
Hm. You want another pair of underwear. It's a swamp. Extra water.
[ Meanwhile does Vincent look like he has anything? No he doesn't. He rarely seems to. Though he probably has some water and a similar type of bowl secreted somewhere under his cloak. The rest is probably bullets. ]
I suppose it's going to be better to speak to this maybe elf in person. Where are we supposed to meet him?
Either way, owing a favor or wanting to put me through a swamp, it'll be worthwhile.
[He .. can't take the people here with him, not that there'd be many he'd be inclined to even try it with. What could he take? Power, apparently. And skill.
The latter would come in time. The former..]
... Mm. At the least there's no need to walk there. I've been losing a lot of coverts though, if I start losing flight feathers it might be a walk regardless.
[ It will be worthwhile... maybe. If it's not layered deceit. Gifts too good to be true and all that... and perhaps especially so in Folkmore regardless of how one can presume upon the fair weather nature of the Trials since he's been here. ]
I hope so. Do you know if Maul went through this process here as well? Might give you an idea of what to expect.
[ Or was he from the same place as the 'elf'. To say Vincent has misgivings, particularly misgivings in going so far as to agree to go as far as to meet up in the first place, would be an understatement. Still he can be momentarily distracted by talk of losing feathers.
While he doesn't spend a lot of time in a fully feathered form, he does have some and Sephiroth has probably seen the tail under the cloak a time or two by now. ]
Hrmph. Wonder if that's a good or bad thing.
[ Bad? One too many fights and damaged wings. Who knows how much it might take to permanently stunt the ability to grow the feathers back? Also bad, if it's a sign of emotional stress. Good? It could be growth a natural process. ]
Well, you can either get us to the swamp's edge or rest the whole way. Ever ridden a chocobo?
[ Besides, once they do get to the swamp it's probably going to be harder to see much through any canopy. Ground travel might be better then. And black chocobos certainly don't worry too much about watery areas anymore than mountains.]
I don't know, but I'm intending to speak to him further about a great many things, he's also been referenced as one of the few people to actually be benefitting fro Thirteen's plans for us here, and I want to know what he's doing that we're not.
[But there's no rush on that front, there are more important things to be addressing first. It left the Sith an interesting enigma.
One pale hand rises to wobble back and forth. Good or bad, same difference.]
According to some searching, the bird my wing shape most closely resembles molts this time of year. I'm assuming it's just part of how it goes. I've had lessons with light cavalry, not all terrain we're expected to have missions in are passable by truck or helicopter. Are you volunteering or did Thirteen import some?
[He's never presumed to actually ask a Familiar to act like the animal they resemble, but he knew what Vincent's primary alternate form was.]
[ Vincent's going to need to check in with Maul sometime. He's been meaning to but... well, it's not like he monitors every single aspect of Sephiroth's life every single moment of his own. ]
...Good idea.
[ About speaking to someone who has had positive outcome from this whole social ordeal that is Folkmore. ]
Let me know how that goes.
[ ...Interesting. About the wings anyway. And yes it's only polite not to presume on a Familiar to act as a pack animal or convenient transport. Not that Vincent would have made the suggestion if he wasn't offering and to that end he nods. ]
Not sure if there's any chocobos around. [ Actual chocobos. Certainly not Vincent. ] But given Exile's monsters, probably better to avoid extra mounts. [ It'd be like ringing the dinner bell. ] Besides, black chocobos have their advantages.
[ Like being able to ignore a lot of natural dangers of a swamp by walking over them. ]
If you're up to flying part of the way, I can change into something small. So long as you don't mind a passenger.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
momijizukamori
hey guess who
Date: 2024-08-19 09:38 pm (UTC)Has benefits or I wouldn't be doing it.
can we hope this is nero who got ahold of mini's relic and is playing a prank?
Date: 2024-08-20 07:22 am (UTC)I'm coming to you right now. Still at home, right?
[ Please say it's not too late. ]
NO SUCH LUCK.
Date: 2024-08-20 09:32 am (UTC)This would be easier in Midgar. Do I need malaria vaccines? What KIND of swamp is Exile?
dangit
Date: 2024-08-20 05:59 pm (UTC)It's not exactly mako or Lifestream but if it were on our world, that's what the air's filled with. Monsters will be strong there. There's a few places we need to avoid and we can't stay for very long.
[ Not even Vincent. Well, he's never tried to live there and while his 'self-exile' from the world might count, he's no longer really of that world either. He can probably stay a little bit longer than some. Either way a few days probably isn't going to be problematic especially when their intent is not to stay. ]
Your Esuna should be enough. And the Cure materia.
[ Yeah he knows about it. Also, footsteps and knocking. He's here. Here to look very stern. ]
sephiroth always makes the best decisions.
Date: 2024-08-20 06:07 pm (UTC)[That might be asking too much, but he's got most of what he wants packed up already. It just means he's now taking BOTH swords and both materia, and as there's a knock on the door, quietly slipping his locket into a pocket in his overcoat. It might be summer, but layers might be a good idea in a bog.
The door is opened, but Sephiroth's not lingering there, he's going back to hunting things he thinks he might need. Exile could be, he'd heard, worse than Cruel Summer. If he prepared for longer trips there, he should here too.]
Please don't tell Nero we're going. I don't want him worrying.
[It's okay if Vincent worries, because Vincent will actually be there. ... Hm, extra socks. He's going to bring both pair he owns just in case.]
DOES HE
Date: 2024-08-20 08:32 pm (UTC)Vincent closes the door behind him and simply begins drifting after Sephiroth, easily staying out of the youth's right of way. Is it reminescent of some other creature's patterns of behavior? Maybe. ]
I've got no plans to bring Nero into this. [ The gunman speaks with absolute sincerity. ] But I need you to explain what you know. This isn't something Mayerling suggested, is it.
[ Statement. ]
Always, and without fail.
Date: 2024-08-20 08:47 pm (UTC)Or just avoiding brass boots.]
Good. I feel like he's had enough stress for one lifetime.
[Everything he heard about Deepground made it worse. Well, this might help with that too, in time.]
Not Mayerling at all. I'd been in a discussion with someone about the situation in Midgar and ... how I'm on my own for almost all of it. Eventually it came around to another world that snaps up people like Thirteen does, called 'Trench', and how basic magic there allows them to conjure up and externalize a part of their soul up as a guardian and ally.
[Slowly, an extra shirt is added. It looks like a school backpack, it probably IS a school backpack, but that would be enough.]
Given Thirteen allows us to learn things that are abilities from other worlds, it seems like one that would be very useful to have, since ... I can't ..really take anyone with me, but I can take myself.
hmmmm
Date: 2024-08-20 09:19 pm (UTC)And you've seen examples of this type of... summoning magic? Working here in Folkmore?
[ That's in fact quite pointed. Is Sephiroth working on just what some guy on the relic told him would happen when he exposed his soul in a place of high magic concentration? Also summoning magic is the closest thing it sounds like to him. He's aware it's not exactly that.
Vincent pauses beside the backpack. Yes, he's going to poke around, see what Sephiroth has already packed. Make suggestions if he finds something he'd find important. Nothing to suggest he's going to try to block Sephiroth from doing this. Yet. ]
I realize that's probably why you contacted me. [ A ride home notwithstanding. ] But I don't like the sound of this. Did you have to tell him anything about you to earn this information?
[ Yeah they talked about Midgar but given the circumstances of the conversation it sounds like some things about Sephiroth himself could have been mention, and how it might translate to a soul guardian. ]
totes!
Date: 2024-08-20 09:28 pm (UTC)He's made sure he has Lore to spare this time.]
I have, but only once. I've been told that 'Maul', one of the jedi, is also capable of doing it but haven't seen it in person.
[MAUL IS NOT A JEDI.]
Not much. ....In truth, I think it was offered because of a .. debt. [Maybe a bandage. Or he can just make those as needed later.] The .. I'm almost certain it's the blind elf I fished out of Cruel Summer at the tail end of the wildfires, right after I returned. Thirteen dropped him miles from water, never mind civilization.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-20 10:29 pm (UTC)...As far as Vincent's concerned, Maul may as well be a jedi. Unless he's privy to some conversation between student and teacher thanks to kitty which.... he probably wouldn't bother correcting anyway. He really isn't sure what the whole space wizard thing is about other than 'maybe a religion'?
Maybe. That's pushing his active levels of concern about that knowledge. However he is aware that Maul has been a fixture in Sephiroth's life and having that as a secondary confirmation that this 'soul guardian summon' is not just a bait to lure the teen out into the middle of nowhere and siphon off his soul...
Well it could still be that. ]
Hm. You want another pair of underwear. It's a swamp. Extra water.
[ Meanwhile does Vincent look like he has anything? No he doesn't. He rarely seems to. Though he probably has some water and a similar type of bowl secreted somewhere under his cloak. The rest is probably bullets. ]
I suppose it's going to be better to speak to this maybe elf in person. Where are we supposed to meet him?
no subject
Date: 2024-08-20 10:38 pm (UTC)[Maybe he should anyway, just in case. Then he won't have to make them. Who knows how much lore it was going to take to copy another world's magic.]
If we can find it, Baba Yaga's school. But it's not easy to locate, I've heard.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-20 10:46 pm (UTC)Well I guess there could be a good reason for that. Or he's trying to test your conviction. Maybe both.
[ Vincent settles against a wall, waiting for Sephiroth to finish packing. ]
At least getting around won't be a problem.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-21 09:53 pm (UTC)[He .. can't take the people here with him, not that there'd be many he'd be inclined to even try it with. What could he take? Power, apparently. And skill.
The latter would come in time. The former..]
... Mm. At the least there's no need to walk there. I've been losing a lot of coverts though, if I start losing flight feathers it might be a walk regardless.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-21 10:49 pm (UTC)I hope so. Do you know if Maul went through this process here as well? Might give you an idea of what to expect.
[ Or was he from the same place as the 'elf'. To say Vincent has misgivings, particularly misgivings in going so far as to agree to go as far as to meet up in the first place, would be an understatement. Still he can be momentarily distracted by talk of losing feathers.
While he doesn't spend a lot of time in a fully feathered form, he does have some and Sephiroth has probably seen the tail under the cloak a time or two by now. ]
Hrmph. Wonder if that's a good or bad thing.
[ Bad? One too many fights and damaged wings. Who knows how much it might take to permanently stunt the ability to grow the feathers back? Also bad, if it's a sign of emotional stress. Good? It could be growth a natural process. ]
Well, you can either get us to the swamp's edge or rest the whole way. Ever ridden a chocobo?
[ Besides, once they do get to the swamp it's probably going to be harder to see much through any canopy. Ground travel might be better then. And black chocobos certainly don't worry too much about watery areas anymore than mountains.]
no subject
Date: 2024-08-22 11:44 am (UTC)[But there's no rush on that front, there are more important things to be addressing first. It left the Sith an interesting enigma.
One pale hand rises to wobble back and forth. Good or bad, same difference.]
According to some searching, the bird my wing shape most closely resembles molts this time of year. I'm assuming it's just part of how it goes. I've had lessons with light cavalry, not all terrain we're expected to have missions in are passable by truck or helicopter. Are you volunteering or did Thirteen import some?
[He's never presumed to actually ask a Familiar to act like the animal they resemble, but he knew what Vincent's primary alternate form was.]
no subject
Date: 2024-08-23 12:13 am (UTC)...Good idea.
[ About speaking to someone who has had positive outcome from this whole social ordeal that is Folkmore. ]
Let me know how that goes.
[ ...Interesting. About the wings anyway. And yes it's only polite not to presume on a Familiar to act as a pack animal or convenient transport. Not that Vincent would have made the suggestion if he wasn't offering and to that end he nods. ]
Not sure if there's any chocobos around. [ Actual chocobos. Certainly not Vincent. ] But given Exile's monsters, probably better to avoid extra mounts. [ It'd be like ringing the dinner bell. ] Besides, black chocobos have their advantages.
[ Like being able to ignore a lot of natural dangers of a swamp by walking over them. ]
If you're up to flying part of the way, I can change into something small. So long as you don't mind a passenger.