2019-05-31: Nuts For Yevon's Best

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  • Log: 2019-05-31: Nuts For Yevon's Best
  • Cast: Ratatoskr, Auron
  • Where: Great Spiran Sea
  • Date: May 31, 2019
  • Summary: Ratatoskr is, if nothing else, occasionally open to better ideas. The only question that remains is if the idea is even 'better' by anyone else's definition!

=================================================<* Great Spiran Sea *>=================================================

The Spiran archipelago is, unsurprisingly, composed of a series of islands. One is large, some are fairly big, the rest are quite small. Travel between the islands is accomplished by a series of small, local ferry runs between Spira's major seaports. Each of these ferries is pretty much like the rest - a large two-masted brig equipped with a pair of paddle wheels that allow the vessel to run on chocobo power whenever the wind is low.

Because all of the ferries are basically the same, this is the one you're on. Whatever one that is. Wherever it's going. You're on it.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGoSAJeVwg8
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Things have gotten serious, after Operation Mi'ihen's disastrous end. Tempers have flared up between Althena's Guard and Yevon. Althena's Guard has wasted no time in rapidly displacing the Church of Yevon, all but forcing them to Luca. It is a time of great worry. Sin has proven they will not be taken down by the machinations of others' supposed 'goddesses' or what have you. It's emotionally trying, and now, those who once shared a common goal have rapidly turned on one another.
     Then there's the matter of a 'Ronso' who has been bothering some of the refugees, who is not helping. At all. ...Though, one could just take the narration's word for it, one supposes there is a keen example happening right now--
     "You won't fight?" Ratatoskr sneers. "You won't fight!! Come onnnn!"
     "...My days of Summoning are long behind me," says an older man who is not long for this world, who retired from his own failed Pigrimage many years ago just to take up simple clerical roles about the Church of Yevon.
     "But if Summoners are the only ones who can beat Sin... and Sin has beaten everyone else... then Summoners must be really strong..." The horned squirrel-like Hyadean reasons aloud, "...so you should be stronger than them?"
     The Hyadean remnant continues to bother them about the nearby ports of Luca, where so many displaced are still trying to work out their next step in this unrest. ...The next step beyond 'can we get by this without this weirdo'?'
     The elderly one at least has the right idea, at last, to do the following -
     "Please, someone, come to my aid!" He calls, previously having thought that doing so might invite this one to attack. He has to risk it now.
     "Hyahaha--! Well as long as someone goes fighting... I want to see it...!" Ratatoskr leans over in a more feral stance, the solid yellow eyes looking out to who will come to their aid. He was frustrated about why they didn't really fight back then, but if someone's going to fight back now... awesome.
     Maybe he'll get to fight them too!

<Pose Tracker> Auron has posed.


    Auron shouldn't really be away from Yuna for too long -- he is her Guardian, and in light of what's happened, she might end up being a target of Althena's Guard. But that's actually why he's heading back to Luca, just for a brief trip. There are chocobos on the Highroad, so he can probably just ride back, at least as far as the Mushroom Rock Road, so he should make good time getting back.

    But see, he wants to know what's going on, and what Althena's Guard said to the priests at Kilika Temple. There might be some clue as to what's going on, and what the Guard intend to do next. Auron has a few suspicions, but he wants to confirm it before he starts trying to throw a monkey wrench into their works. It might not even be necessary. Hopefully it won't be -- the plan he has going now is already big enough that it might not even work...

    Of course, that assumes he gets into the city to see the displaced priests. There's a bit of trouble here near the port, it seems. He's not sure what's going on, but he's headed in that direction. So there might be a few heads turning, people might start murmuring, and Ratatoskr might hear a name spoken.

    "...Sir Auron!"

<Pose Tracker> Auron has posed.
<SoundTracker> "Auron's Theme" - Nobuo Uematsu, remastered by Junya Nakano (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pCJbp5dfY0)

    People start shuffling out of the way, to the tune of quiet but heavy footfalls on whatever surface the crowd is standing on. And as the crowd parts, it reveals a middle-aged man with slightly spikey salt-and-pepper hair (though it's almost more salt than pepper). The man wears a red coat with a tall light gray collar, a gray breastplate, and dark gray pants. The heavy footfalls were likely due to the heavy ankle boots he wears.

    It's worth noting that the man has his left arm tucked into the coat for some reason, rather than wearing it down the sleeve like he does his right arm. Perched on the bridge of his nose are a pair of dark sunglasses, but more importantly, along his back there is a large gray leather sheath, holding a single-edged sword of dark metal, with a golden filigree at its back side.

    He faces Ratatoskr levelly, despite the height difference. "What are you doing?" he inquires. It's not the proclamation of a righteous hero shouting down an evil beast. It's the tired tone of an old man who is just SO FREAKING DONE.

    Actually... that's something else that seems out of place. This man moves slowly, measured and deliberate. He seems to slouch. He even blinks his one remaining eye slowly. This man doesn't carry himself like the great legend that Ratatoskr might have heard. He carries himself like a tired old man.

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    'Sir Auron!' The name, the title, it is said in reverence by one who can't help but say so. In this very time of need, there are fewer welcome sights than he, and the horned squirrel-like Hyadean turns his head towards the stoic, determined man in red.
     "...Whoa." Ratatoskr's face is almost a permanent grin. It seems to shrink, a little, his eyes slowly brightening as he sizes up the man's presence. He's not sure he saw him coming - like he just... is. But the power the man projects just by standing there - unshaken, unyielding - is palpable.
     Intoxicating...
     "...You're Sir Auron?" Ratatoskr crosses his arms as he stands upright, facing away from the elderly former Summoner he's been distressing. His tail curls upright itself, as the Hyadean crosses their arms. He's taller than Auron, for sure, but the way the sun is in the sky... it's Auron's shadow that's pointing at him.
     He has a horn atop his head. It is the only likeness Ratatoskr has to anything Auron would find familiar. Beyond this, he is obviously not a Ronso. He's something else entirely. Something not of here.
     An Otherworlder.
     "...You're Sir Auron!" Ratatoskr's voice lights up, youthful as if gleeful, parting a hand away from the crossed arms as he clenches and unclenches a fist. "Hyahaha--! Guardian to the High Summoner Braska... but now you're with someone who's not a High Summoner...?" He speaks in reverence... which quickly gives way to confusion, as if keenly unaware of an important fact as to the hows and whys.
     "Are you going to fight Althena's Guard? I want to see it! I want to live it... I want to feel it... the history in the making..." This tapers off into whispers that sound almost gleeful. Where Auron comes off as an older sort who's just done with it, this monstrous fellow has all the trappings of someone so young. Energetic, eager, and not quite grasping the full weight of the world, or the situation at hand..
     "You know they took over Kilika, right?" He's asking a question, but he speaks up before he allows an answer. "So they're fighting... wait, wait, does your Summoner know?" Ratatoskr asks, bu-- "does your Summoner know!" oh no
     "Summoners are the only thing that can beat this Sin... and this Sin beat everyone else... so to watch this Summoner fight Althena's Guard..."
     He grins a little wider as he drops down into a more feral lean, arms spreading out but forearms raised, hands pointing inward as one leg raises.
     "I can't wait!! I should bring them there... I should bring them there!! I want to see them fight...!"

<Pose Tracker> Auron has posed.

    The question of his name is answered with a nod. "I am." An offworlder, then, it seems. Auron also pauses to take in the stranger. Definitely not a Ronso -- there are no red Ronso. Besides that, this creature's configuration doesn't bring to mind a Ronso. But yes. That horn is about all that looks familiar. More proof yet, if any be needed that this isn't a Ronso. Though the question remains, then -- what IS it? Whatever it is, it's apparently not just a beast. It can at least speak. So it's no fiend, at least not as Spira defines them.

    Auron raises the brow of his remaining eye at the gleeful sound of the creature's voice. He doesn't bother to confirm the mention of his status as a former Guardian to High Summoner Braska, nor to the note of his current employ under someone else. And he sure isn't about to venture to the strange creature who his charge is now. An offworlder has a chance of not knowing, and that's one less tagalong they have that Yuna has to worry about. Particularly this one, who would doubtless be troublesome.

    As for fighting Althena's Guard? "...That depends. If they don't try to stop my Summoner's pilgrimage, I have no reason to bother with them. We have enough problems as it is," he states flatly. Yeah, he really doesn't want to have to fight them, but if they start getting in Yuna's way... well, he'll have to.

    And speaking of stopping Yuna's pilgrimage, this creature seems to believe that he should interfere, to make people fight Althena's Guard. Auron is starting to see what this not-Ronso wants -- a fight. A battle for the ages. Honestly, he wants to just point the guy towards Sin and go 'seriously, it takes a Summoner AND all their Guardians to bring it down and it keeps coming back.' If he wants a battle of legend, he seriously can't go wrong there.

    But no. Auron can't do that. Not even to an offworlder, not even to an overly fighty creature such as this. So instead he states, "'History' is bigger than this conflict between Yevon and Althena's guard. If you want to 'witness history', fight the Guard yourself, so they no longer impede Summoners."

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Only if they don't try to stop his summoner's pilgrimage... he'll have no reason to bother with them, the famed Guardian says, and the horned squirrel's tail flicks out in what might be annoyance, agitation. A brief dimming and returning lumination of those eerie solid yellow eyes are the only context to communicate it, as the features of his face - though structurally similar - do not fully measure up to a human's, detail for detail.
     Utterly alien. (Because he is.)
     "Really?" The horned squirrel historian-provocateur's stance rises. "Only if they interfere...? Only if they interfere!"
     Auron is a man whose words carry incredible weight - a conviction unshakable. Even an Otherworlder like him - one who seems so numb to how much suffering war and battle seems to bring! - seems to be able to comprehend this. Enough that the usual childish protest, the noxious bravado, seems hushed. Hushed before a man of such presence and clout.
     A resolve that not even his insatiable desires to meet, witness, battle, and keep the memories of such great war heroes can so casually put aside.
     Which leads to a moment of contemplation. A moment for the potential to acknowledge, to learn.
     A moment that is instead infiltrated by another idea entirely, as the strange creature's grin widens, putting the surrounding displaced clergy and other such refugees of Kilika on edge.
     "I could...! I could..." the rapid attacker acknowledges. He knows a bit about Althena's Guard from their time on Filgaia, even if to date he's still mystified about the specifics of the origins of their styles, their sorceries, their history, their everything...
     "...You're right... you're right! Hyahaha--!" Ratatoskr cackles, not at all reassuringly. "What a great idea... yes...! I'll have one of the greatest battles of a land I never knew existed unfold right before me...!" So... he's going to just go beat up the Guard in Kilika, then?
     "All right... I'll remember that...! Guardian Auron...! I can't wait...!" Though Ratatoskr is a warrior trained to skirmish, he has himself another trained role that he never truly got to perform in his time as one of the Metal Demon hordes of Mother.
     "Fine... I'll got Kilika... I'll go to Kilika!" He grows more exciteable at the idea. "Then we'll see it...!"
     Ratatoskr turns around, flicking out his arms to adjust their length as he goes right to all fours and just takes off running. He's fast. Faster than any land creature Auron might have ever seen, before finding a place of high elevation to crawl up, leap off, and jump into the sky.
     A liquid metal patagium comes out his back, spreading across the space between his limbs as a parachute as he tries to take off gliding towards the direction of occupied Kilika.
     ...For he has a message he would very much like to deliver!