2023-06-30: Dawn of Souls

• Log: Dawn of Souls
• Cast: Phacia, Ethius Hesiod, Magilou, Jacqueline Barber, Margaret, Yuna, Cirea, Ida Everstead-Rey, Azoth, Lulu, Avril Vent Fleur, Hannah Curie, Ashley Winchester, Paine, Rikku, Rixia, Kanon
• Where: Kilika - Town Center
• Date: June 30, 2023
• Summary: Legends in Spira speak of Omega. They speak of a priest of Yevon, who sought to stop Sin. They speak of a priest executed. They speak of a rage undying, in the ruins he was imprisoned in. Another undying rage has sought him out. Phacia, leader of the Vile Tribe, meets with Drifters in Kilika to beseech their aid.

---

<Pose Tracker> Phacia has posed.

Kilika's rebuilding started with the Guard, but their departure and the beginning of the Eternal Calm has accelerated it. Luca, Bevelle, and groups from across Spira have united to make the town what it once was -- and more. After all, no small number of merchants from Meribia, Rolance, and Hyland have become familiar with it.

Thus, Kilika has become an unlikely center of trade. It seems poised to grow.

But a ship that arrived just yesterday is... different. It doesn't look like a ship from Meribus or Glenwood, with a shallower hull, and huge sails. It is colorful; painted in purples and violets, with crimson and deep blue sails. And the people on it wear fanciful, colorful robes and have strange tattoos.

Their leader, a woman named Phacia, asked to speak with the High Summoner and her trusted companions.

The Kilikans, unsure what to do about this, showed her to the inn.

And thus, now, Phacia sits in the inn. She is a tall woman with kind brown eyes, though they're sad too; her hair is silver, but she has a sort of agelessness to her. She wears pale silver and blue robes, with a complex golden pattern down the front. Tattoos are visible on her arms.

She sits before a table and waits, patiently. There is a glass of juice before her, which she sips. Two bare-chested, hulking guards -- covered in tattoos, too, and with beastfolk facial features -- stand behind her, at attention.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius isn't far off from where Jay is at a given moment, and his presence in Kilika is on the backdrop of investigating the are for any lingering, uh, Guard things. It's something he's always been particular with, and with the added context of what went down at Mount Liverfeast, he can be entrusted with the location and disposal of problematic materials.
 
     He catches wind of some commotion, and notices the style of the seafaring vessel doesn't match anything he's seen. There's a curiosity there, which is not at all exclusive to him in any way whatsoever. Before he can fall back upon instinctual habits, Lulu reaches out to the Drifters that have made themselves allies to Spira in its darkest hour, and that displaces the need for him to rent an adjacent room in order to eavesdrop. (This is for the best.)
 
     His manner of dress would speak of a stereotypical 'magic using adept' in the Spira region, but it doesn't completely hide the Symbological tattoos about his body, especially around the neck and shoulders. He stands somewhere out of the way in a corner with arms folded behind him out of habit, taking note of the tattoos and the beastfolk-like facial features of the woman's personal guards - and the make of their collective clothing for mental inventory.
 
     Matters of greeting and conversation he's leaving to others on principle.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    A shadowy Normin gets a message to Magilou, from where she's taken home in the seaside town of Kilika, because time is a river and history repeats --

    'Phacia has come to our growing shores... oh........ after so long..... I wonder where her ship has travelled, all this time...'

    As for Grimoirh, she doesn't come to meet Phacia, because -- well. She's a cat-type Normin, you understand. She's never quite been one to involve herself deeply in human company; it's served her well for over a thousand years, so she sees no need to stop now.

    She might leave her a message on her boat, for when she leaves. But that's later. Now --

    "It is I!" A witch declares, as she throws open the doors of the inn. In her bifurcated hat and her skirt all made of books, Magilou sucks all of the air out of the room and into her own lungs just by stepping in. "Through the mists, I appear! And so...!!"

    She marches up to Phacia, fearless of her guards, and puts her hands on her hips as she leans forward to examine her.

    "Yoooou..." She starts, as if trying to place her. It's a thorough examination... "... owe me sixty gald! So you've finally shown your face to pay up, huh?!"

    What the fuck is gald.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    When Magilou throws open the door, Ethius winces as he catches one of those doors trying to pancake him against the corner he's trying to cleverly place himself, because Magilou's grand entrances force the rest of the world to make way (or get slapped upside the face by doors).
 
     He quietly steps out from behind this slammed-open door without saying anything, because he knows better.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

As a merchant herself, Jacqueline has been keeping an eye on developments in Spira. She's been staying somewhat more hands-off - she doesn't want to take over while they're recovering and developing, but it's a good way to keep track of things going on...

...And as such, when a mysterious woman and her entourage arrive, Jacqueline is in a good position to hear about them. Everything suggests she seems friendly and, apparently, she wishes to speak with the High Summoner and her companions - and with them reaching out to Drifters in turn, Jacqueline is more than willing to accompany them to see what it is she wishes to say.

"Welcome to Spira. I imagine you've come a far way..." Jacqueline greets Phacia and her guards with a smile - and that's when Magilou marches up to her about an apparent debt, leaving Jacqueline dumbfounded and speechless.

...It's Magilou so she knows she shouldn't be, but...

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
WHY IS MARGARET HERE? She needed the money.

Well, not just the money. She was contacted by others and there is a certain debt, of gratitiude if not financial operation, that she owes to the High Summoner and her people. Good work on killing Sin, she might say.

Margaret has other things to concern herself. Spira is no longer a war zone; nor is it underneath the boot of Althena's church. While Margaret may or may not harbor any aspirations of liberating the land of her birth (and what of it? she was just born there, she didn't have a great time, really) she DOES have beloved comrades who have perished or disappeared in Spira. Perhaps some of them can be found; and if not, at least stories can be ended.

She also probably wanted to keep an eye on Magilou.

Who she is standing behind, being approximately 1.3 Magilous in height. She is visible to the left, having folded her right arm forward. The left is holding her usual pipe, which is smouldering in a leisurely way. She gazes forwards as she enters the inn, regarding Phacia for long moments aaaaaaaaand Magilou's hitting her up for money.

Without moving or saying anything, Margaret's demeanor becomes 'I'm not with her' for approximately ten seconds before reverting to normal.

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Yuna is not hard to find.

They send the ferry; and the ferry sends a runner pounding up the steaming jungle trails of Besaid; and the runner delivers his message to Wakka; and not long thereafter, a pilgrimage sets forth back to Kilika...

...maybe that's not the best word to use.

On the way, Yuna and her friends used the various communications technologies available to them to reach other Drifters who might be interested in the mysterious visitors, but weren't on the tiny island they calls home. Yuna herself hasn't been heard from much since the summit at Luca. Over the Sphere on the way to Kilika, she looked a little peaky. Like a flower that isn't getting enough sun.

In person, that impression intensifies. But at the same time, it's hard to call so much dignity in such a small package 'wilting'. Her strides, in those same brown boots that have collected dust from all over two worlds, are steady, ground-eating, familiar in their conviction and intent. One foot in front of the other one.

She has a gentle word and a peaceful smile for villagers who inevitably approach; pausing to talk to grandparents and children alike; admiring this new building here, and that replanted garden there. And the same for Drifters that she has not seen in some months.

Eventually she reaches the Inn, and the Otherworlders awaiting her.

"Greetings... I am Yuna," she introduces herself softly, inclining her head to the stranger as one might to any unfamiliar elder. "From the Isle of Besaid."

Some things never change, apparently. She nods agreement to Jacqueline's welcoming them to Spira.

"I hope you haven't been waiting long," she adds pleasantly, unstintingly concerned for these wholly unfamiliar people. Magilou's hitting them up for cash she determinedly ignores, though her two-tone eyes are united by the faintest shade of curiosity. It could be real, that debt.

Nothing surprises her anymore.

"How can we help?"

Some things REALLY never change.

<Pose Tracker> Cirea has posed.

Cirea is... probably not actually one of the High Summoner's trusted companions, because she does not actually know Yuna well at all, and she wasn't at the fall of Sin either.

This, of course, does not stop her from showing up. Not for two reasons.

First, of course, is that Cirea will show up for anything that looks even fairly interesting or novel because she wants to see and experience it, unless she has either been asked not to or has been shooed away. It's the opposite this time; plenty of Drifters have been invited in, and it's no trouble to make sure that she's one of them.

And second, Cirea recognized the ship.

Cirea - who grew up reading in a library a thousand years old and more, by now - has seen a sketch of a ship that looks an awful lot like this, with the same pattern of paint, give or take a couple minor flourishes. And the robes, and the tattoos...

So in the wake of some of the other drifters bursts in a foot-high fairy, practically vibrating with excitement. She swoops past one table, pulls up her flight, does a literal loop around Magilou as she barges in to demand her sixty gald, comes to a hovering position around head height and blurts out, without actually stopping at any point to take a breath, "Hi and welcome to Spira and I didn't think you guys ever travelled this far or really at all because of the Boundary even though I don't know why it needs to keep you out and, uh..."

She apparently runs out of steam and does a complex, formal-looking half-bow, half-salute in midair. "Did I do it right?" she asks, anxiously.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida, Jay, and Hannah were in Spira when Lulu sent out her missive. Literally! They'd mounted an expedition into Xenobia's secret annex the day before. Ida had made a stop in Kilika before taking the ferry back to the teleporter in Bikanel, one thing led to another, and now she's here, making her arrival at the inn.

    Sterling is hitched to a post outside, socializing quietly with the other chocobos. Ida steps inside, wearing a slightly different outfit from yesterday: blue-patterned vest, white chestwrap, billowy black-and-gold pants tucked into her boots. Her hair is pulled back in a long braid, and her forehead's covered with a gold bandana. She steps in a few moments after Jay does, moving to the side before turning to look at the guests. Her eyes study them, intently, curiously; she's never seen that style of body decoration before, and she saw the boat the rode in on. Where on Lunar are they from.

    "Welcome, madam," Ida says, and that's all for now, because Yuna is here. Ida lets her have the floor, as well as a warm smile. It's good to see her.

    Aaaaand Magilou knows her, and Ida knows Magilou well enough to realize that's significant. Magilou knows lots of people, yes, but sometimes... those people know things.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth was not able to clear up any unfinished business concerning Sin before on account of all the traitoring he was doing. While the future might always contain more of that, this time he is not aware in advance that he will be a problem. So he returns to Spira to see it for himself, to see this world without Sin, and to, not for the first time, see what he can assist with -- even if it no longer seems to need the help it once did. Heartening! But when you're an AI crammed in an android body, it's not too difficult to pick up on the whispers and rumors of possibly ominous or at least fascinating tidings.

So, trusted companion or not (and he might be considered such to many, no matter how much he shouldn't, but also so many simply do not know), Azoth just so happens to, conveniently, coincidentally, casually, be at Kilika's inn.

He's organizing a bundle of gysahl greens for quality idly before jolting upright, looking sufficiently surprised when suddenly there are a bunch of people arriving.

Magilou pancaking Ethius makes it difficult to oversell the act.

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Lulu is one of the High Summoner's trusted companions, and she's put out the call to a few others. Lulu is accordingly looking over the various Drifters as they arrive, caring not just for Yuna's safety--obviously, that's her priority, even now that her job as Guardian is theoretically over--but for who has answered their calls. Something important seems to be going on here, after all.

"...High Summoner Yuna," Lulu adds, because Yuna isn't going to talk herself up. Who doesn't know that's one and the same? It is a mystery, but it is worth saying in official situations like this appears to be.

She regards Magilou for a moment. "Debts aside," Lulu says, "We are here at your request. I am Lulu, a Black Mage of Besaid."

...As Ethius catches a door, Lulu reaaaches out to stop the door from sliding around. They might need him.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    There had been much to consider and yet more to do in the wake of their meeting with Bartholomew, leader of the Veruni Radicals. Avril had taken her time and remained on Lunar up until a pending wedding had bade her return to Filgaia. But once the celebrations had reached their end, it was to Lunar she had again returned. She is a member of the Outreach, after all, and though much of Spira has been recovering with Sin's defeat...

    Something had suggested to her that their aid was still needed. Luca had been her port of call, so to speak, but after one of the residents had asked her to deliver a message to Kilika, well.

    She had beheld both a ship that had clearly come a long way and more than a few people she knew personally or by reputation. So it is that the gathering attracts at least one more.

    "Those... tattoos," Avril says, direct as usual. "I have not seen their like before."

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah really should get back to Filgaia to keep taking on jobs. Money isn't going to earn itself, after all, and with all the downtime recently she feels like her budget's gotten behind schedule. But in all honesty, exploring things on a whole other planetary body is just so fascinating, and, well... she likes being around other people. Even if she's not entirely sure she should be. Still, when the others got word of the meeting she asked to tag along, intrigued as to what it might be about.

She is... mostly wearing the same thing she wore yesterday. She tends to travel light. She's a bit on the shorter side, curly pink hair left unadorned. She's wearing jeans and a denim jacket, and isn't wearing a red bandana around her neck anymore. A red-tailed hawk is perched comfortably on her shoulder, and a satchel is slung behind her. She's got her hands shoved into her jacket pockets, and her expression is flat and withdrawn, but flickers frequently to uncertainty at seeing the crowds gathering.

The hawk on her shoulder chirps quietly, and Hannah just shrugs her other shoulder. "Dunno," she says quietly. "I'm sure we'll find out."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Why IS Ashley Winchester in Kilika?

Well, uh.

Honestly, it's because he's Planning Something. Not for, like, the immediate future. But for someone who has recently (and, admittedly, comically) proposed to his childhood friend, there might be a reason or two for scoping out what is essentially becoming a tropical paradise.

On the moon, perhaps, but still.

Not to mention that, with Sin being defeated, ARMS does have a vested interest in checking things out and making sure nothing terrible happens to Spira in the aftermath. So!

He happens to be at the inn, then, when all of this everything is going on. The fact that he's dressed extremely casually-- almost like he's about to hit the beach in a few minutes-- and sipping what seems to be some manner of exotic tropical fruit punch is... probably worth overlooking, right? Surely!!

"Excuse me," he asks, just, goes right up and asks these strange people, "I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like you folks before. Are you here to sightsee, too?" ASHLEY DON'T JUST GIVE OUT THE FACT THAT YOU'RE BASICALLY GOOFING OFF. "Those tattoos are really neat!" HOW CAN ONE PERSON BE THIS FRIENDLY AND AWKWARD AT THE SAME TIME!?

It's... Fine. It's fine! He's probably allowed to goof off a little bit, even on official work. After all, his mental and emotional well-being are quite literally mission critical for the task of 'ensuring the continued existence of this stretch of reality.'

<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.

Paine folds her arms rather than return Rikku's one-armed hug. "Does it not embarrass you to get flattered about that? Look at all these people we called? How many of them felt the need to hug me?"

If the people in this room got together to compare notes on who exactly reached out to them, however, they would discover the verbal sleight of hand Paine is perpetrating. When Yuna needed help getting the word out, Lulu volunteered to reach out to their connections... and Paine, never a people person, volunteered to call Rikku.

"Watch," Paine tells Rikku. "These people aren't even Guardians." Is anyone still a Guardian? It just seemed to slip out, that word. "And look how they're behaving."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

Word got to Rikku down the Al Bhed pipeline, which led to her taking a salvage ship in to Kilika almost right away. Certainly helping the Al Bhed navigate their place in world without Yevon is important - but!
 
Well, after Paine communicated to her that this was going down, it sounds like the kind of crisis she'd be there for.
 
She enters the inn with a sorta enthusiastic aplomb as she announces, "This trusted companion is now here!" Her announcing herself that seems to be sorta like this, inside joke? She's all grins about it, "Hi! Rikku's the name-!"
 
Stepping on up to Paine, she instantly throws her arm around her, "Paine! It's been too long!" It's been like, less than two months? "Did you miss me!? You must have as you were in such a rush to reach out to me, first opportunity you had!" She cups a hand and asides to Magilou, "No~hesitation~!"
 
Swinging off of Paine's shoulder, she announces, "Lulu! Come on! Just 'a Black Mage of Besaid'? More like 'THE' black mage. Gotta hype yourself up! It's good PR! Who out there can Doublecast Ultima like you?"
 
Other than some guy they don't talk about anymore?
 
As for Yuna, she's introducing herself so she just gets an enthusiastic wave from the periphery of her vision, but not interrupting yet. A hug is in her future, it is known, but for now she's hanging out by Lulu and Paine.

<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.

Paine folds her arms rather than return Rikku's one-armed hug. "Does it not embarrass you to get flattered about that? Look at all these people we called? How many of them felt the need to hug me?"

If the people in this room got together to compare notes on who exactly reached out to them, however, they would discover the verbal sleight of hand Paine is perpetrating. When Yuna needed help getting the word out, Lulu volunteered to reach out to their connections... and Paine, never a people person, volunteered to call Rikku.

"Watch," Paine tells Rikku. "These people aren't even Guardians." Is anyone still a Guardian? It just seemed to slip out, that word. "And look how they're behaving."

Yoooou... owe me sixty gald!'
Ethius is nearly taken out by a door.
Hi and welcome to Spira and I didn't think you guys ever travelled this far or really at all because of the Boundary even though I don't know why it needs to keep you out and, uh...
Someone's talking to a bird.
Are you here to sightsee, too? Those tattoos are really neat!

Paine's shoulders deflate. "You know what?" she preempts Rikku, knowing a losing battle when she sees one. "Forget it. Thanks for the hug."

Paine is standing next to (per Rikku) THE Black Mage of Besaid, and cracks a smirk when Rikku's energies are turned upon her instead of Paine. But barring those moments of distraction, she is largely attending to Phacia. She still wears that over-heavy grey sword she used to use during the Pilgrimage, and her demeanor seamlessly weds boredom and alertness; so used to guard duty that it is second nature. That long, threadbare cloak that she used to wear is gone, however.

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Rixia's been living in Gagazet for the last week or thereabouts, after the whole incident with Alwaid Ronso, her father. She hasn't really been in the mood to travel much; in a way, it's like the sails have been taken out of her, contrary to what she promised Ruth, because one day you can feel like a supervillainess ontop of the world then take a nap after delicious stew and wake up feeling like garbage. She's appreciative of the Ronso's generosity, though.

    She's in Kilika today because of an errand for someone in Gagazet -- she's way more capable for travel than her client, who's coming up in age, but Kilika's weather is something of a surprise for her. By the time she's purchased what she needs, she's sweating and wants the shade-- then pauses as she notices a number of Important people that she knows.

    She backs up for a moment to check that the Inn wasn't privately booked out. That's just the kind of social ladder brain she has.

<Pose Tracker> Phacia has posed.

Being over thousand years old and having engaged in diplomacy for many of those centuries, Phacia makes a point of smiling at and greeting everyone. Even Ethius, though it's nonverbal; a smile and a polite nod in his direction.

Then, she looks at Magilou. She lifts her cup of fruit juice, has a sip, and then smiles over it. Politely.

"I paid that to you six hundred years ago," she says. "You're getting forgetful in your old age, Magilou. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

She smiles at Margaret. Of course she isn't with her.

Then, she looks at Jay -- speechless after that exchange -- and smiles. "Yes. It's the first time that I have left my home in a long time. I must say, I do like the climate here," she says.

She looks at Ida, then smiles, and nods -- and she looks a little at Azoth, and smiles at him, too. Even if she is surprised, a little, at the glow of his eyes. It's a familiar sort of surprise, though. Avril's statement, though, draws her eyes. Phacia looks at her.

She keeps smiling. "They are common among my people," she says. "But... my people are not common, I fear."

She looks to Hannah, then she greets her with a brief nod. She does look the hawk over for a moment.
"Yuna," Phacia says. "Your reputation precedes you. Though... that seems like it goes without saying." She closes her eyes for a moment, then smiles. She knows something about loss; she also knows something about strangers presuming too much. "Thank you for coming."

Her eyes widen, though, when she spots the fairy that enters. She sucks a breath in, with recognition -- the general sort, not the specific -- and then she nods once. "Ah... you got very close. I'm glad to be welcomed by you, too."

She looks to Lulu, then, and nods. "Yes... I heard a little of it. I was educated by a kind old man, who will join us shortly," she says. "I am grateful to Maechen for his assistance."

She gives Rikku and Paine both a smile. The Lady Summoner's Guardians, she would presume. She sees the way that Paine watches her. She can spot a bodyguard.

Maybe it's an old habit... or maybe Yuna still needs them. Far be it from Phacia to judge someone from mistrusting her.

She can't see Rixia, as it happens. But Rixia does see one of her porters come by -- with strange tattoos and garb, unlike anything she has seen on Lunar before.

She then looks at Ashley -- and for just a moment, she stares at him. It's a piercing, far off, and concerned look. But, then, she smiles. "No, I am afraid not. As lovely as this land is. And..."

She hesitates. "...Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you, even if the circumstances are dire."

Phacia glances down, then, after a moment. Those dire circumstances cannot be avoided forever. "I am of the Vile Tribe," she says. "We are a people who reside -- in a geographic, but not a cultural sense -- on the continent of Glenwood. We have a certain kinship with Spira, in that we, too, do not live and did not wish to live under the protection of the Goddess Althena."

She looks between them for a moment. "But some of us have interpreted that differently than others," she says. "I speak of my sister. Of Xenobia," she says. "Who I have learned was handmaiden to Yunalesca. Xenobia has... brought a great deal of misery to Spira."

She exhales softly. "She intends to bring more. And so, I have come to tell you what I know, so that you may be able to stop her."

She looks up. "Xenobia has found a powerful Fiend. She means to bring him under her control. It would not be another Sin, but it could not be called a good turn of events."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou splatters Ethius with the door and doesn't even APOLOGISE, because she is a MONSTER. Some kind of... monster... witch.

    (At least she's not a monster clown. Those tend to sharply change the world map at the worst possible moment.)

    "What... six hundred years ago?! No way, that was the hundred gald you owed me for the Beardsley incident. This is the sixty gald you owe me for that buffet. Really, who doesn't keep track of their debts?"

    MAGILOU. IT'S MAGILOU WHO DOES NOT DO THAT.

    She laughs, though, and smiles to her. "It's been a few months, Phacia," she agrees, and she is warm, in Magilou's peculiar way. "Or a few centuries. You know! Somewhere in that timeframe. Good to see you're still sailing."

    But Margaret shifts into 'i don't know her' mode, and so Magilou turns back, to drape a hand over her shoulder. "This is Margaret," she introduces her, gesturing to her with a hand. "She and I have grown quite close!" It's as if she has a mystical ability to know when she's embarrassing people, and just when to crank it up. Isn't she with her? She's definitely with her.

    She doesn't call out all the other people she's left gobsmacked, at least. Margaret really does get special treatment. (She also helps Azoth! She's a helpful lady.)

    Anyway, Cirea asks if she did it right, and Magilou holds up two plaques -- an 8 with a dot next to it, and an 0. "Eight out of ten. Solid execution, fine entry, but you have GOT to take a breath when you talk."

    She puts away her scorecards -- just kind of hooks them back in between the pages of one of the books on her belt, apparently she just carries those around all the time and no one noticed -- and stage-whispers back, to Rikku. "Oh, she couldn't live without you. You should definitely just dangle off of her this whole time. It's what she'd want." Given how she was dangling off of Margaret, a few moments ago... but hey, Paine thanks Rikku for the hug, eventually, so isn't this just point to Magilou?!

    It's definitely point to Magilou.

    She settles back, a hand on her hip, as she listens to Phacia's tale. If she comes to stand next to Rixia, well -- maybe that just means Rixia actually does belong here. "Oh, yes, she looked very upset last I saw her," Magilou recalls, her gaze lidding. "Of course, I was trying to have a nap, at the time..."

    The world was in danger, but never mind that.

    She looks to Yuna, and presses: "I believe you were more awake for that, weren't you?" She's passing the buck! She is BLATANTLY passing the buck. The buck has been passed. It's not coming back.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius comes shy of a 'deer in headlights' look as Lulu helps come to his rescue from Impromptu Doorslamaga, where he finds some other place to situate himself. He notices the strange guest's kind smiling and nodding in respect. He nods in turn as if a desperate grasp for trying to match whatever cultural norm there is there.
 
     Things play out, some express familiarity in part or in whole (or closer to 0.75 which is still 'a part') and he knows better than to talk over or gainsay any of that. There's a passing glance at Rixia when she enters, but other than that...
 
     "I must admit some curiosity," Ethius speaks, double checking to make sure he's not about to be slapped by a window frame by some other Cirea-sized fey forcing their way open or something because Magilou's entrance may have just put the fear of swinging doors back into him. "The Goddess Althena does not appear to have any political nor social sway in Spira, beyond any lingering influences from the interaction of differing cultures during, and following, the crusade."
 
     Kilika itself is an excellent example of this! But Althena does influence at least one thing here - straight in the blood and the sorcery inherited - which slips Ethius' mind in the moment he speaks of this.
 
     "To what end would this individual gain by directing their enmity upon Spira further in particular?"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline manages to recover her composure, at least, offering Phacia a smile.

"It's quite nice. It was quite the surprise to me when I first came here, too." She replies. It's no mystery that she isn't from around here - her outfit doesn't really match the locals.

She listens as she greets everyone - and then, eventually, begins to explain. The Vile Tribe... Jacqueline is familiar with the name from reading up on Lunar's history. But the other name she mentions...

"You're Xenobia's sister?" Jacqueline asks, surprised... and then, frowns. "...A powerful Fiend. I see. Yeah... Sin or not, that's the last thing we need. What do you know about it?"

Ethius asks an important question, and Jacqueline goes quiet as she awaits an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

Other people are filtering in. Margaret observes them with a range of emotions from silent recognition and a small dip of the head (Yuna) to skepticism (Ashley).

Phacia smiles at her. Margaret is faintly unsettled, but good! She and Magilou do know each other. *You can never be sure*.

"I could hug you, if you want," Margaret tells Paine while raising the pipe's stem back to her mouth. She does not immediately *execute* on this 'offer', which should at least put her in a different class than Rikku. Perhaps Margaret feels a certain kinship with Paine.

Then again, she has more swords than Paine; they're just smaller.

Of course, then she is being INTRODUCES. Margaret ends up leaning forwards as she has an arm slung around her from a significantly shorter woman. Her face colors. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she says to Phacia, rallying up. "I'm Margaret of Houndstooth, just lovely. I'm really just here to look up some old acquaintances. I don't suppose you were as lucky as to miss the war."

She looks at Phacia with a strange kind of tension. This! A member of the Vile Tribe. But is SHE in the Vile Tribe now? Margaret thinks. She, too, has made a deliberate effort to move outside of the Goddess's """protection""". "So ultimately... this is a hunt? I've heard of this Xenobia, I think. The name's associated with some kind of library..."

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

A group of Drifters inevitably creates frothy bubbles of chaos. Whether they engulf Yuna with effervescent joy or just kind of overwhelm her -- or maybe some third option, she is accustomed to friendly crowds of people who know or think they know her, and this one truly does know her far more than most -- she seems happy enough to float among them, bathing in their collective gladness, without seeming to fully participate in it. She is very present, and... not the same presence, perhaps, as she was on the bridge of the Fahrenheit, or even the platform at Luca's blitzball stadium, afterwards.

The deflating line of Paine's shoulders along Rikku's arm, though, tugs the very faintest smile to the corner of her mouth, as does Rikku's surety in reciprocating Lulu's insistence on titles with her own.

She listens intently to Phacia, with something of her old and apparently intrinsic focus, not just to the words she says but to the looks she gives, long and short. And the times she closes her eyes. And when she's addressed, naturally, she replies -- though not before Magilou fills in the one blank she was looking for.

Names are important. More important than titles, to Yuna. A title is what you are, but a name...

...a name is where your story really begins.

"I will always come when I'm needed," she agrees quietly, and if that's a slightly sad statement, she doesn't seem to notice at all. "Though it seems your reputation proceeds you as well, Lady Phacia."

And then the Vile Tribeswoman drops still ANOTHER name.

"Um," says Yuna. "Yes, we... met..."

---

Yunalesca is gone, her pyreflies made one with the stars above in the strange dimension that both is and is not the roof of the Zanarkand Dome.

Xenobia's scream, now, is fury and frustration -- a rage they have not heard before.

"What have you DONE!? I'll kill you-- trapped in this miserable, stinking land for a thousand years! All... all to end like this!"

---

Yuna's shoulders square.

"Her rage is... my responsibility," she says simply. "I have brought her to grief. Thank you so much for your warning, Lady Phacia. Please... tell us everything."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

That look.

That's a look Ashley knows. It's one he's received too many times from People Who Know to not know what that look means, and what the eyes behind it are seeing. His smile wilts slightly, he sheepishly scratches at the nape of his neck. "Ahaha, it's... it's alright. I know I must look... worrying." For wearing beach clothes at what is by all rights a beach-goer's paradise? But to those with supernatural senses, those who can truly see the nature of things...

Well. There's good reason to be worried.

The circumstances are dire. But not for Blazer-shaped reasons (not yet, anyway). Ashley's gaze tightens further. He pulls up a chair and produces-- an all-in-once empathite communicator, recorder and personal terminal (they've upgraded from Empathite Radio-- now is the age of Empathite Flip Phone! Not... quite to Empathite Smart Phone, unfortunately.) He listens attentively as Phacia explains her peoples' nature, and...

Of the danger one of their number poses to Spira.

"...Yeah, what they said, why does she want to bring harm to Spira--" And Yuna explains. Revenge, of course. Ashley's brows furrow. "...Okay. What can we do to help? I'm... expecting that it'll be bad if it gets out. So we need to stop her before she can take control of it. So... how do we do that? She's your sister, is there a way we can... maybe reason with her?"

<Pose Tracker> Cirea has posed.

Cirea beams. She did it right! More or less, and she'll do better the next time.

She frowns a little at 8.0 though. "Really? I thought it was at least an eight point five... did I do the bow wrong?" She isn't sure why Magilou knows Vile Tribe bows anyway, though she clearly knows Phacia so presumably it's okay. "I know it's a little out of date, but I got it out of a book." She nods toward Magilou's... skirt.

(No, it wasn't one of those books.)

Cirea lowers down, not quite standing on a table but hovering just above it. It's a convenient chatting height, but she doesn't actually want to get her bare feet all over the table - well, she doesn't care but she's found that other people do.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you; I'm Cirea! So that's why you came all this way? Because it's a long way! And, like I said, I didn't think you really ever came out. Where I grew up, we had a lot of old books, and they said you - I mean, the Vile Tribe - was supposed to stay in there, but I figured they couldn't stop you from getting out EVERYWHERE because, uh. It's a lot of border. And a lot of it's around the water." She tilts her head toward outside, toward the boat. "Plus, the old city that used to be watching is gone, I went to look for it. Pao? I couldn't find it with a map."

Cirea pauses. "Oh, yeah! I was just in her library yesterday!" Pause. "I mean, uh... it's not like anyone else uses it," she says, a little uncomfortably and keenly aware of the single book on magic that she took with her because it interested her and she hadn't seen it before. She is really, really hoping Phacia does not ask for it back.

"...what fiend is it? Fiends are bad." Cirea glances at Yuna, who appears to have more personal knowledge than her. "I mean, I'll help, of course! It's what he would have wanted. ...Probably!"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Phacia's demeanor reveals much about her. Rather than being overwhelmed by the response--which, honestly, would be quite understandable, this is a great turnout in Ida's book--she handles greetings with a more personal touch, answers questions, even indulges well-intentioned social blunders.

    Ida tries to meet Ashley's eyes from across the table, shakes her head, and mouth the words 'a touch less personal, please.' She folds her hands on the table, and waits for Phacia to give her introduction. Her eyebrows shoot upwards at the words 'Vile Tribe'--not so much that they exist, but that they use that term as a self-descriptor. But when she drops the name 'Xenobia'...

    Ida's eyes widen. She sucks in a breath, listens.

    "We... found a repository of Xenobia's records," Ida says, indicating Jay, then Hannah, then Cirea with little nods of her head. "Many of them personal notes and diaries. We can... safely confirm that she's been interested in Sin, and in... revenge."

    Ida's eyes lock with Yuna's. "She knew Sin was 'self-inflicted'. She knew, the entire time." As if it would lift the weight of Yuna's guilt.

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Hype herself up, is it? Lulu lifts an eyebrow at Rikku. She nods back to Ethius, in the meantime. And then, "Very well. I was a Guardian to Yuna."

She notices the way Paine reacts to it, too. And the way Margaret offers to hug Paine... "No," Lulu says simply to Margaret, and keeps her position next to Paine. Apparently she has an opinion on that matter. Apparently.

She takes note of the Vile Tribe, the people who like the Spirans' ancestors wished to live outside the Goddess's influence. Interesting. And the fairy Cirea, for that matter, with the things he knows about the same. lulu is doing a lot of listening about all this, until Magilou chimes in about Xenobia.

"I remember," Lulu says of Xenobia, "How angry she was that we stopped Yunalesca." Yuna speaks of her grief. SHe frowns; she does not really approve of Yuna taking this responsibility onto herself for that reason, but... even so... "...It must be handled. We cannot allow her to wreak more havoc in Spira, or elsewhere."

"...I admit to some curiousity myself," Lulu agrees with some others, "As to what motivated our ancestors and the Vile Tribe to avoid Althena."

She looks to Ida, and nods. "Whether or not it's our responsibility," Lulu says, "It's certainly our problem. I for one would welcome assistance."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

'Bet~terrrrr!' Rikku mouths to Lulu as she at least calls herself Guardian to Yuna.

"Yep! And?" Rikku observes to Paine how they're behaving, and she asks Paine- "Is this some Otherworld thing I'm not picking up on? They seem to be acting pretty normal to me!"
 
'Forget it, thanks for the hug!'
 
Rikku chirps up, "I'll do just that!" Forget it? But she demonstrates by taking a hop right over and gives her another hug.
 
And doesn't let go!? Around the side of Paine, Magilou gets a 'discreet' or at least, discreet as things go for Rikku - thumbs up!
 
Phacia begins soon after though, and as she listens, she mouths 'Vile Tribe' as if wondering if anyone in the room knows what it is, but more explanation is forthcoming. Her eyes light up as she says Xenobia, "Ohhhh her-! Yeah she was... real upset with us after all that happened in Zanarkand."
 
There was some fleeing involved. "Not sure if responsibility is the word for it Yunie? But-! We'll deal with it."
 
After a moment of consideration, "A powerful fiend huh? How bad could it be!" Everyone here may in that moment feel like Rikku just used the Jinx ability on the whole room.

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    There's a mild look of surprise as one of Phacia's porters come around, dressed in a way she hasn't seen before in Spira -- or in Lunar, really. Oh, there's moms... Margaret and Magilou. Magilou moves just a bit closer, as if already knowing she's going to bolt before long. A Fiend. Xenobia. Another Fiend...

    That's the really popular summoner and her entourage there, and there's Jay, and Ida, and Hannah, and Ethius... there's definitely trouble here. And... a fairy?

    "Can we just... kill it?" Rixia rather bluntly blurts out. "... that's what you do to Fiends, right? They can't rest otherwise." You kill them, and they die... then they get their so-called deserved rest, and leave the living behind to suffer...

    ...

    She takes a flask from her waist and takes a glug, after thinking that. Oh, that's nasty.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Smiled at directly, Azoth gives another little start, then beams a smile back, as would only be polite! His eyes are no less well-lit for it. It also feels like permission to be here without having to make it awkward. No one else seems disturbed by his presence... It's possible no one here knows. The battle before was chaotic enough, even when he was called to.

It turns out perhaps this information is not sensitive so much as concerning. Azoth frowns, his cheer dampered with Phacia's explanation. Xenobia. Not an unfamiliar name in history. More than that, having to act against family... But the last thing Spira needs is another Sin, and the second to last thing it needs is not quite a second Sin.

It seems everyone else has this handled as far as needing to do the talking goes, so Azoth slides next to Ida with a more easy, friendly smile and lowered voice, offering a gysahl green. "Did Sterling come with you?" He pauses, blinking wide eyed at Zephyr, and hesitantly offers a green.

A shockling accurate chirp-chwirk of a hawk leaves his... mouth? Did he make that sound with his mouth? Regardless, after Azoth has spoken (but not understood) legitimate bird, he pauses. "Nnno, carnivore, right? Sorry. I haven't got any meat on me."

But he keeps his mutlitasked attention on the matter at hand. Yuna taking responsibility for it... As if there hasn't been enough of that already.

"In any case, it's certainly not anything someone has to deal with alone," Azoth ventures cheerfully. "Or should!" He winces. "...But I'm with him on this one," he says, nodding his head toward Ethius. "It's not exactly... productive, at glance."

Not that rage always is, but what a waste of rage if it isn't.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    She had heard that, from the fairy.

    That woman's people do not travel this far -- or at all. Because of the Boundary. Avril's gaze shifts towards the others arrayed close enough at hand, bearing the same tattoos. The Boundary... it stirs a memory. More than one memory, at that: of the tales of the Althenian faithful that she had gleaned so many years ago. Of a mural, within a lost shrine.

    The woman herself confirms it. Her people are not common.

    "I... see."

    The woman, Phacia, speaks then of her people. The Vile Tribe -- Avril had heard rumors about them before, some sort of shadowy folk who were blamed for much of the ills of yore. It seems they were more than just stories.

    "Xenobia..." Avril echoes, furrowing her forehead in consternation. "I... yes, I have heard of her. I had thought perhaps she was of like nature to Yunalesca. Yet, it seems this is not so."

    She is silent for a moment.

    "Is that truly her motivation? To bring despair and suffering to Spira? To what end?"

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah glances around as more people file in, and the hawk on her shoulder is glancing around, too. There's quite a variety of people here, some tangentially familiar to her (even if she hasn't spoken to them in depth), but many more not. That's fine. She probably won't have much to contribute anyway, she's just here out of curiosity.

When Paine catches her eye and gives her a nod, she returns in, a bit awkwardly. After a moment Zephyr (the hawk) bobs his head, too.

Was that a nod from the hawk?

When Phacia starts talking, Hannah reaches behind her, into her satchel, and pulls out a journal, and starts making notes in it. She's looking down at her notes as she writes, but she stops and her head snaps up when Xenobia's name is mentioned. She looks to Ida, eyebrows raised. Hannah then flips back a few pages in her journal. She took detailed notes of what they found.

'She's been interested in Sin, and in... revenge.'

It takes her a moment, but she finds her courage to speak after Ida's done.

"And in fiends," she adds to the list of Xenobia's interests. "We found mention of plans for a facility to manipulate them in some way..."

She clears her throat and falls silent again. Zephyr chirps softly to her, and she nods to him in reply.

<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.

Paine sighs as she gets another Rikku hug, but does not object. After all, the alternative she had presented was to urge Rikku to act more like the people here, and she'd rather not roll the dice on what the result of that would be. She is taken aback by Magilou intervening to encourage Rikku--perhaps it is too late to avoid Rikku being influenced after all--but as the meeting continues, she is distracted from objecting at first, and by the time her attention might be allowed to wander again, she seems to have forgotten Rikku is there. So she just lets Rikku hang on for now as she listens to Phacia, a sturdy goth post around which this beaming sunflower can grow.

Paine arches a grey-white brow at Margaret. She's quite unaware that Margaret is offering this hug out of sympathy, given that everyone being so silly and huggy is what Paine needs sympathy for. Maybe it would be a more serious hug? She opens her mouth to reply to Margaret--to this exotic beauty with her elven ears and unexpected offer, but--

Lulu replies for her.

Paine folds her lower lip over with her upper teeth, physically forcing down what would have been a grin. She bobs her brow briefly at Margaret, endorsing Lulu's position on the matter. When she looks forward again, she doesn't look at Lulu, but for a while, 'not looking at Lulu' is what she is doing.

At least until a certain name steals light from Yuna's voice.

Paine's expression subtly hardens. Yuna's willingness to accept any and all responsibility, her sympathy for her foes, is their oldest and most persistant difference of opinion, and one that Paine, by and large, is content to leave standing. She does not want Yuna to become less kind.

But she does not intend to become kinder herself, either.

<Pose Tracker> Phacia has posed.

"I am afraid I don't recall the incident you speak of..." Phacia says to Magilou, trailing off. Then, she smiles, and nods to her, before she looks at Margaret. "Ah--" She has met other significant others of Magilou's, perhaps. "It is a pleasure, Margaret. I heard of the war, but did not wish to leave my lands as it happened. Leaving my charge is... fraught. But, perhaps we can all have tea, some day."

She smiles again, looking to Yuna, and then she nods. "And I thank you for that. I... ah." She looks down. "...Yes. I suppose that you have."

She frowns. "But... do not take her rage upon your heart, Yuna," Phacia says. "For Xenobia's rage is more than any heart can help bear. I know, because I have tried."

Her eyes turn back towards Ashley, and she smiles. There is a moment of hesitation, before it becomes warm again. "It is quite all right."

Then, she looks to Cirea, and she nods to her. "I am Phacia," she says. "It is... a pleasure. I think we may share an old acquaintance."

She doesn't elaborate.

"To what end..." Phacia says, trailing off. Then, she looks at Ethius. "...She doesn't have a rational goal, any longer. It is as our friend here, says," with a glance at Azoth. "It is not productive.

"Xenobia is not working to make the world better. She isn't even working to address a grievance. She feels... betrayed for what happened, a thousand years ago. It may answer some of your questions," she says, with a glance at Avril. "But some cannot be answered, for it's something that is buried in her feelings rather than what what the people of Spira have done."

She looks down. "The Vile Tribe lives beyond Althena's Boundary. Beyond even its furthest reaches, which includes Spira. The land there is as it was before she came -- there is no soil, there is little water except what runs off from the mountains and what is deep under the ground. The Boundary contains this land, and we are its residents. Its protectors."

She looks to Lulu. "Our ancestors had their reasons, though many are lost," she says. "And others... I should not speak of them. They are my charge, now, and I must guard those secrets with my entire being."

She exhales. "It is a difficult life," she says. "Xenobia hated it. She saw lands of greenery, lands where the soil brings life, and asked why our people did not have these things. As did I. But..."

Phacia shakes her head. "...This changed into hatred for those with such things, with time," she said. "She told me of Sin some seven hundred years ago. She said Sin was the great punishment that Althena's faithful deserved, for it was one they made. And with Sin gone... she seems a new way to inflict her pain upon them."

She looks to Ida, then, and she nods. "It is an obsession nourished over centuries," she says. "And a rage stoked over them, too. I fear for the woman who was my sister. For the way her courage and righteousness have warped into hatred and vitriol."

She looks to Jacqueline, then -- and to Cirea, too. "I am less qualified, for this, but... ah! Maechen!"

And then Maechen enters. An old man, wearing a green and gold robe, with a most fanciful hat. He walks in and sighs. "Ah... Lady Phacia. And Lady Yuna!" he says. "How good to see all of you again. Yes... yes, what would you know? Would it be the story of--"

Phacia smiles. Patiently. "Omega, wise one."

"Ah, yes... the impulsiveness of youth..." (For the record: Phacia is over ten times his age.) Maechen nods. "Omega is the Fiend that Xenobia is seeking. And he is quite powerful, young Rikku!" Maechen says. "But also... A sad tale. I shall tell you of it..."

He shakes his head. "Omega was a warrior-monk, several centuries past. A loyal fighter of Yevon..." He speaks, and he doesn't quite make eye contact with Paine. "...who decided that there had to be another way to defeat Sin. His comrades turned upon him, though."

He sighs. "They brought him to Bevelle, and... tragically, his life came to an end when he was executed by being thrown unto the Via Purifico. But, while he died there... his spirit escaped."

He shakes his head. "He became a Fiend, and made his way to an ancient island. He killed countless other Fiends, on his way, and absorbed her power. After he reached the island, though, a group of Crusaders traveled, to seal him away, before he could wreak havoc upon Spira. To release him would be folly, and--"

Phacia interrupts, softly. "--folly that my sister means to do." She looks to Hannah then nods. "I would not be surprised if she played some part in how Omega grew stronger. So I must ask... that you stop her, and at any cost. Even if the cost must be her."

Then, she looks to Rixia. Phacia hesitates, before she nods. "...Yes. If you can, perhaps slay both," she says. "If she has broken the seals already."

And, perhaps, saying that -- that she will accept, perhaps even welcome, the death of her sister at their hands -- is why she can meet Paine's eyes without flinching. Phacia is many things: soft-spoken, gentle, wise.

But she lost her kindness centuries ago.

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Drifters begin offering help, and Yuna receives these offers gratefully, though perhaps a little ruefully. "I had hoped... that we might not need to call upon everyone's help... quite so soon." Or ever again. But the Eternal Calm has not been broken yet. Preventing that is exactly the task set before them. And Yuna is highly motivated to make sure the sacrifices that won that Calm were not made in vain. "But thank you. Thank you, everyone."

Some of them also offer a different kind of support. From Ida: knowledge, though it does not come as a huge surprise. Yunalesca, after all, also knew the fate of those she transformed into fayth. And told them, so casually. As though their lives, their souls, were nothing to her at all.

Because they weren't, of course. Such is the nature of fiends...

"Mm," she agrees, nodding to Ida, then looking to Lulu as she speaks.

Others try to dissuade Yuna of the burden of blame, but let's face it: if an intervention of friends and loved ones could convince her that she wasn't personally responsible for the another's suffering, she never would have gone on pilgrimage.

She finds Rikku's optimism, and Rixia's realism, easier to bear than the collective surety that Sending Yunalesca without also tying up the loose end of Xenobia is not why Spira is now in terrible danger. But one thing that everyone's right about is that it doesn't really matter. This isn't about her at all.

Phacia says as much, and much more.

"I am sorry," she says, of an sister's inability to reach her sister. And in her eyes is the sorrow of someone who knows, if from within a far shorter lifetime, what it is to care for someone and be unable to reach them; unable to ease the rage in their heart; unable to do anything but put an end to it. An end to him.

She can do it once more.

"We will stop her," she promises, and there is kindness in that promise, but it is a compassion so fierce and so true that it cuts like a knife. "For Spira. And for you."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "See?" Magilou wrinkles her nose, to Phacia's memory loss. "You're going senile! It's tragic!"

    She's met several other significant others, probably. What ever happened to that nice fire seraph? He was such a gentleman! But look, Magilou has two hands, and also she can juggle. With her heart broken into so many little pieces, that just means she has a lot of shards to give out. They're all

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline listens attentively as Phacia begins to explain. About Xenobia, and the Vile Tribe... Their circumstances, and the former's feelings of hatred and betrayal.

"Obsession..." Jacqueline murmurs. ...Quite fitting, she supposes. And to her, Phacia says she's less qualified - but thankfully, there's someone who is. Jacqueline loves stories, even sad ones, so she listens as he recounts the sad tale of Omega - and his transformation into a Fiend, leading into Xenobia's intent to release him.

"...I see." Jacqueline murmurs. It is indeed sad... but the release of such a powerful Fiend would be devastating. She nods.

"...Yes. We'll do what we have to do." She says, resting a hand over her heart. "Tell us where this island is. We'll head that way as soon as we've made preparations."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "See?" Magilou wrinkles her nose, to Phacia's memory loss. "You're going senile! It's tragic!"

    She's met several other significant others, probably. What ever happened to that nice fire seraph? He was such a gentleman! But look, Magilou has two hands, and also she can juggle. With her heart broken into so many little pieces, that just means she has a lot of shards to give out. They're all valuable. Even if she's not the first, Magilou's evidently still very fond of Margaret.

    "Keep working at it," she encourages Cirea, "and you'll get that point-five in no centuries at all." She might have met her, in passing! It's difficult to say. Magilou just kind of enters existence and then leaves, without warning, like an outside cat. She grasps at her book-skirt, and adds: "But if you want to get out my books, you've GOT to buy me dinner first--!!" Magilou knows that's not the book she meant; Magilou is just terrible.

    She thumbs-up to Rikku, and she is... less subtle. Less subtle, too, her grin to Paine.

    "It's an old story," she says, to Lulu and Ethius. "It even began before mine, and I've been writing my tales for a good few years, now. But..." She sighs, and glances to Phacia, and trails off. She'll let her tell it; it's her story to keep.

    "There were a lot of angry people, back then," she says, instead, when she's finished explaining. "I wouldn't call a lot of us heroes -- more villains who happened to be in the right place at the right time. But Xenobia's anger stood out, even in an environment like that. No wonder it still demands the spotlight, today."

    She grins, to Maechen, and leans over to Rixia to whisper: "Heh heh... now's a good time for a nap." RUDE?

    Magilou at least waits for his explanation to be done before she claps a hand on Rixia's shoulder. "That's right! Murder is the best solution! There's no reasoning with this one, so let's all get our best equipment on and go make a killing!"

    Give her some shred of credit: she didn't go all-in on the murder until Phacia asked them to.

    Magilou wasn't at all surprised to hear her ask, though.

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    "... why wouldn't it sow into hatred? Are the 'have nots' meant to just quietly smile and accept what those who 'have'? That's what rich people want you to think... that they deserved to be rich. They like to glorify themselves with their achievements, hiding that they exploit those who have not on their way up..." Rixia murmurs to Phacia, on the topic of Xenobia's hatred.

    On the topic of whether Sin was something they deserved, though...

    Maechen arrives, and explains the Fiend they've been tasked to slay. That he's quite powerful, and he was a warrior-monk, a loyal fighter of Yevon... who wanted to find another way to defeat Sin.

    A quiet frown.

    "So someone wanted to find a better way -- as you all have -- and he was betrayed, and executed before he could become a problem for the 'haves' in charge, because it would be a problem. He was you, hundreds of years ago. I've heard the stories of how you escaped Via Purifico,"

    Her eyes narrow. The excess of Malevolence swells inside of her for a moment, before dying back down. "... in the end, the old can only pass over their problems to a younger generation."

    Magilou claps a hand on her shoulder. It seems to help centre what's threatening to boil over, after she's consumed so much of it from her Fiend father. "... I'll help. Strong Fiends don't tend to get created without sorrow around them..." And what'd you know about that, Rixia, hmm? "I don't mind lending a hand to bury the past."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius' gaze matches Phacia's for a while when she explains that Xenobia doesn't have a rational goal, any longer, dutifully listening without speaking over it as some jump to more pragmatic resolutions that wouldn't be out of character for him to say if he felt the imperative to say so outright. (He doesn't.) He nods in acknowledgement of an answer.
 
     A hand goes to his forehead as he hears Phacia's account about where the Vile Tribe lives and what it's like, a side-eye to Magilou as she specifically dates Phacia's story as 'an old one, began even before (Magilou's).' He nods along with that too. How many extraordinarily long-lived people has he made the acquaintance of since he came to Filgaia? He's not sure what the odds of that are on the cosmic scale but it'd be enough no one would believe him if he said so.
 
     He internally deliberates. If they lived where what the land was like before Althena, who is credited for the verdant environs of endless plenty... were the Vile Tribe indigenous people? Between the fairy over there and Magilou seemingly corroborating their existence as genuine...
 
     He looks over to Jay. "I will follow your judgment in this matter."
 
     The existence of New Kasim City already begets a lot of questions he can only search for piecemeal answers towards while he's present.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
Margaret's eyes half-lid as she looks at Paine, lips gently resting on the mouthpiece of the pipe... and then Lulu speaks. Her eyes turn towards Lulu. Then Paine. Then the now-turned-away Lulu.

Then at Cirea. "She's just a rough judger, don't take it personally," Margaret assures the fairy. "But you were just there? Did you see any Fiends?"

Rixia! Margaret looks at her with a smile. But... she seems unsettled. Not at ease. Perhaps in light of everything she simply can't take it easy. Perhaps I'm the odd one, thinks Margaret, not very happily.

"... I would never take this situation lightly, but at least it seems relatively straighforward," Margaret muses. "Err-- is there information about 'Omega' which we might find?"

("And, thank you," Margaret adds, parenthetically, regarding the sympathy and the pleasure. Tea might be nice, yes. One of these days, if they are spared.)

After the advocacy of murder, Margaret gives Magilou a squinting pause of consideration, but seems to decide that she actually means it this time. This takes her four or five seconds to do, but it actually *does* happen.

"... You're not wrong," Margaret answers Rixia, a little awkwardly, "but at this point, other than Phacia and Magilou here, and likely at least one other person I'm forgetting, none of us were here for that. I'm sure any one of us, especially the high summoner or her glamorous companions, would have stepped in, were she able to."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Someday... Someday, people will be able to look at him and just see Ashley Winchester again. He hopes, anyway... No. Not anymore. Hope is something that he has to hold onto, to cling to. But before, he had always just been-- passively doing that. Holding on and waiting. Now, there's something else. Someone to love. The courage to act.

Desire.

The desire to see hope realized. To make the impossible a reality, instead of just-- waiting and hoping for it to happen. Attendre et espérer is for people who have the luxury of time.

He returns Phacia's smile with one of his own. It's alright. It'll all be fine.

He'll make sure of it.

Ashley listens attentively to Xenobia's story-- both from Phacia herself, from Maechen, and from the drifters around her. He hears of the origins of the Vile Tribe, of them as sort of custodians of the Old Moon. "I'm sorry, that must be... terrible. Even on Filgaia, there are people who have to survive in the deserts of Ignas and the wastes of Celesti. I don't envy them. It's... not a surprise that someone in that situation could get jealous about their lot. But..."

To manipulate-- perhaps even cultivate-- something like Omega...

...Will they need to kill Xenobia? Ashley's frown curves around the straw sticking out of of his fruit punch. Siiiip.

"...If we have to, we can probably destroy Omega, but... I'd like it if we could stop her before she can set it loose. Spira has already suffered so much from Obsession, and it sounds like Xenobia's no exception herself."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

The beaming sunflower thus continues to hang off the sturdy goth post, at Magilou's enabling.
 
Still, her head cocks to the side, listening to Phacia speak of Xenobia, of how she doesn't have a rational goal. There's something sad in Rikku's expression, hearing about her just lashing out.
 
Then Maechen enters, "Hey Maechen!" Rikku takes one arm off Paine long enough to wave, "'Quite' powerful huh?" She looks at Paine, then back to Maechen, then back to Paine, then back to Maechen.
 
Then she whispers to Paine, "I still bet Lulu could take him."
 
Maechen? No obviously not, Omega of course!
 
She hasn't even listened to the full exposition of the lore yet, but she's confident in Lulu's Fiend blowing up skills!
 
She does listen then to the whole tale, "Hmmm, hmmm. Yep! We'll take the case!" Is it even a case? This isn't some detective story, "Spira's still figuring things out now that Sin is gone, we won't let her ruin things before we've even gotten started finding our feet!"

<Pose Tracker> Cirea has posed.

"I'm not THAT old," Cirea huffs, to Magilou.

Which is absolutely true. She's not even *one* century, not by a long shot. Just because she looks mostly like an elf (well, plus wings, minus four feet of height and change - so not that much like an elf) doesn't mean she's really old!

"As for your books, those are YOUR books. But if all it takes is buying you a sandwich or something to look at them I totally will!" Cirea pauses. "Just not right now, I didn't bring my money with me. I didn't think I'd need it right now."

(Cirea you are at an inn. This is where you buy food and lodging.)

Cirea even listens to Maechen's story. The whole story. He might even get the impression that she's interested, which is not something that always happens (she likes stories, and even though he's not the best speaker it's better than nothing).

But there's Philia she needs to respond to. "I think we do. And yeah! He'd want to help," probably, unless he wanted her to help Xenobia, but she's not going to worry about that, "so I'll help. Even if..."

It's her sister. Cirea doesn't have a witty comment for that. She makes a face.

She's happier to answer Margaret's question. "We didn't see any fiends, but we saw a book ABOUT Fiends. It was really old, though, and it didn't have her in it, but she kept it so it must be important. It was about New Kasim City, apparently they had more fiends and they needed to deal with them!"

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Lulu remains silent for a while; the answers she get aren't the full answers she would like, but she didn't expect to have it all handed to her at once. She considers further, based on that.

"So those who benefit from this world's greenery are all the same to her. Regardless of whether we have interest in Althena or not."

Maechen, though, she knows; they've benefited from his wisdom before.

Sister to sister...

"To have to fight your own blood..."

She shakes her head. "Yes. If necessary, we'll destroy it. We'll do whatever it takes. She notices how Magilou wasn't at all surprised, of course.

Then...

"...Mm." 'Lulu could take him.

She says nothing else for now.

Utnil Cirea brings up, "In New Kasim City, they didn't have the Sending," Lulu explains.

<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.

This was a tale of Summoners, Paine had thought. When Maechen mentions Omega's prior profession, it takes her a moment to reconcile her sudden familiarity with (and investment in) the topic, with her sense of this whole affair as another supernatural epic far beyond her, involving her only so far as she had attached herself to Yuna. But all things old were young once, were they not?

"Agreed," Paine says, endorsing Lulu's willingness to undertake harsh measures. "Lady Yuna is involved this time." Paine almost always lets Yuna speak for her, and keeps her position to herself. She does not change that policy now, but she does, unusually, make her general antipathy for the idea of dragging Yuna from her well-earned peace clear with a neutral repetition of the last two words.

"This time."

Margaret is easy enough for Lulu to warn off, and why not? Rikku isn't wrong about how formidable the black mage is. But that assessing gaze--that is less easy to frighten away. She seems to be getting one from Magilou as well for some reason. Paine bears up under it with just a touch of smugness, still pleased about Lulu's reaction earlier.

Magilou's gaze seemed oddly pleased though. Wait. What was it Magilou had said before?

"You're still here?" Paine realizes irritably, whispering to Rikku. "Pay attention, this is important."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    It is not a rational goal, Phacia explains to another, and here Avril might see the outline of what it is that drives Xenobia even before Phacia explains to her further.

    "...A terrible thing to desire," she says, shaking her head. "Is there nothing left that is precious to her? Nothing that she wishes to protect...?"

    Some people, in this world -- in either world -- possess no treasure of their own. Without such a thing to care for, to nuture, they seek to deprive others of what is theirs. No-- not even to take.

    To destroy, for the sake of destruction. To carve their pain into the world and let it bleed dark.

    "..."

    This is so even of the being she wishes to awaken, as Maechen makes clear. This is a revenant, a vengeful ghost that would tear Spira to pieces out of sheer remembered spite. "Such pain... and that pain is what tethers it to this world," Avril murmurs, frowning as she furrows her brow deeply. "Pain... calls to pain..."

    Was that how Xenobia learned of Omega-- found where it now rests?

    If it is necessary, they are to kill her. Phacia's own sister.

    Avril does not ask if she is certain about what she wishes. Neither does she say a word. She can see already the look in Phacia's eyes, read there the decision she has surely agonized over, but had at last come to the only possible conclusion regarding.

    If Xenobia cannot back down, then... that is where they must draw their line. Much as any other threat, she must be ended. Her, and should it have been awakened, Omega and its equally ancient grudge, too.

    Avril does not say a word. She nods.

    Yes, at times... the only answer is the sword. Would that it not be necessary... but the world is cruel, and what it may require, crueller yet.

    This, she and Phacia understand well.

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

There is much to be explained, still, and Hannah falls back to taking notes in her journal as new information comes in. Especially as Maechen explains the story of Omega, a warrior-monk whose spirit became a Fiend, then became stronger by slaying other fiends.

Phacia comments that Xenobia may have played a part in that process, and Hannah nods quietly with a bit of a frown as she flips back through her notes again. The workings of fiends, witchlights (pyreflies?) and so on are new to her--but she knows enough to know that this is bad, in any case.

Especially when that request is made.

A deeper frown, at that. She wasn't planning on getting involved, but yet...

Getting involved is what got her back in touch with Eleanor and Marivel again. And there's still more of Lunar that she wants to see, too.

She makes a determined nod to herself as she continues listening to the discussions happening around her and taking notes. Zephyr gives her an inquisitive chirp, and Hannah just says quietly, "We'll see."

<Pose Tracker> Kanon has posed.

It'll all be fine. He says.

A woman's low soprano mutters, "A beast of old hatred returned to run amok. Familiar story," from the edge of the gathering.

Kanon became present at some point. She's a woman with deep blue hair and average height and a somewhat curvy physique, but the heavy cloak she wears - even here, in Spira's tropics - gives her a broad, boxy silhouette, disguising the figure of the woman beneath.

She is staring DIRECTLY at Ashley with her single blue eye, but then blinks away; she turns her attention back to the actual presenters.

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Ashley instantly almost jumps out of his seat at the sound of *THAT VOICE* and stares utterly blank-faced at Kanon's sudden appearance.

"You..." He starts, then-- "Are you here... for vacation too?"

NO, YOU MORON

(He's actually just trying to not spook people into combat in the middle of a damn inn lobby)

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida unfolds her hands, and presses them together, palm to palm. Her gaze doesn't waver as Phacia speaks, or even as Machen does, despite the unrelenting nature of the man's words. Once they've laid everything out on the table--including Phacia's own thoughts on her sister's fate.

    Grim, she thinks.

    But she does give Hannah as much reassurance as she can with a look alone. (Yuna, well, she tried doing the same. Pot, kettle? Probably, yes.)

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ashley startles for no goddamn reason(?). Ida glances over to him, brow furrowing in concern, then arching. Is everything okay?

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

A rage greater than a heart can bear... Azoth makes a curious beep-whirr to himself. It's difficult for him to imagine. Can an emotion become too big for a heart, something so aptly designed to carry them? In his own calculations, there have been times data is so much. Too much. To be overwhelmed by emotional data, though...

"It as simple as one thing that did it," Azoth concludes aloud, though at a volume easily enough lost in the room. "Her rage isn't productive, but..." He smiles at Phacia weakly. "It is logical." There always is, if you ask Azoth, but this one isn't that hard to see.

Then the story of Omega. Azoth frowns deeper, but doesn't put on a greater show of any feelings. None of this sounds very fair... It didn't start with the likes of Xenobia and Omega, but their fates are being sealed within the tragedy.

"He was a lot of people," Azoth echoes of Rixia. "...Problem is, the young become the old, and the cycle never stops. Well, maybe without Sin, there's a better chance."

<Pose Tracker> Phacia has posed.

Phacia doesn't even blink, as Magilou says that. But, as long as she has known Magilou... she knows well what this is. It's sympathy, of a kind; doing what must be done and putting down an old friend. Or, for her, a sister.

She looks at Rixia. "Hatred isn't the same as wanting change," Phacia says. "I stood with her and fought in the war against Althena, too. But... hatred is letting your anger blind you, even to the changes you might want to make. It is placing wrath before the change you would make."

Then, she looks to Ashley. Phacia hesitates, for a moment, before she nods. "If you can," she says. "Then all the best. Thank you, Ashley Winchester. And..."

She glances downward. "...I think the day will come when you must travel to the Frontier," she says. "When you do... I ask you come in peace."

What could that mean? Phacia doesn't say more.

"Ah, how could I forget!" Maechen says to Jay. (He forgets a lot of things.) "Yes, here..." He pulls out a map of Spira -- he keeps one of those, rolled up, at all times -- and unfirls it. Then, he points to an island in a sea far to the east of Spira's mainland.

"...This is the island with the Omega Ruins," Maechen says. "Do take care."

Then, he looks at Margaret. He shakes his head. "Little more than I have told you," he says. "Tragically, the Crusader records were lost in Operation Mi'ihen, so we only have the reports in Bevelle, which I summarized."

Maechen completely misses Kanon's presence. But Phacia doesn't -- she looks up, sharply. But then, she quiets again, after a moment. This meeting may be disturbed, but it was not interrupted.

Phacia looks at them, as they all volunteer to help; from Rixia to Jay, from Ethius to Ashley. To Lulu and Avril, with their resolve -- even if silent. To Ida, quiet bu resolved. To Hannah and Paine, with their quite different reservations and disclaimers.

'We'll see.'
'This time.'

To Azoth, who points out that there is a logic to her sister's rage. "Admitting its logic is hard," she admits. "For the temptation is there to share in it. But... you are right."

There is a certain lack of clarity, perhaps. But there is no question that they'll go. No question that they'll risk their lives for this. They follow the leads of the others, but their own hearts, too. It's something she thinks she has lost.

Maybe Rixia is right about the past generation. It is what she is doing, isn't she?

To Yuna, promising to stop Xenobia for Spira's sake, but for her own. Her eyes close again, and Phacia takes a breath. She is moved, and she struggles to not let it show. She only gets halfway there, before her eyes open again.

She doesn't deserve this.

"It's rare to see an opportunity for change," Phacia says, with a smile to Rikku, but also to Yuna. Then, she looks to Cirea, and she nods. It may be what he would want; she can't say for sure. "So... I am glad you are willing to take this burden. For the older generation. One day, I hope I can offer you more than my gratitude..."

But it's not today. "...I wish you a safe journey and every success."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Ashley gives Ida an expression and eyebrow raise that seems to suggest 'I'll tell you later,' or alternately 'I ate some bad poi and it's kicking in.' One or the other.

--But Phacia has... something cryptic for him. Something... cryptic indeed. Did he give her his name...? "...I-- don't know why I wouldn't. But... Don't worry, I don't want to make war on anybody."

But the One Inside Him may not be so gentle.

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Rixia stares quietly at Margaret, as she tells her that if any of them were there, they would've stepped in. ... was that all there is? The right people weren't born at the right time, the right place? They'll all die here, too, except for the long lived ones, and then what...? As Azoth points out, they'll become the old too, and then the young will be dissatisfied with them...

    With Sin, maybe a better cycle between generations could be founded. ... but how could anyone know that? How do they know the gains of today aren't going to be broken horribly thirty years later?

    Time... time is always the enemy here.

    Why bother having cycles in the first place? Why allow a perfect moment to fade?

    The world was always only ever going to let them down.

    Phacia has wise words for her. That hatred isn't the change as wanting change. If she lets her anger blind her, will she forget about the important things too? Is that all that happened to Omega? Is that all that happened to her father?There's a little incident with a woman that startles Ashley, which blinks her out of her reverie.

    "... I have to post this coconut butter to Mt. Gagazet first," she murmurs, having held a giant vat of whitish fat this whole time. She leaves.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"We all lost so much in that battle," Margaret says to Phacia, with... more gravity than usual. After this her arms fold. She looks at the ground; little energy to spare for flirting or looking around or contributing ideas. But then there is a disturbance.

Margaret escries Ashley's distress. She looks at Kanon, who basically looks like some Drifter to her. "Do you need a drink?" she asks Ashley.

<Pose Tracker> Kanon has posed.

Ashley asks her a question. Kanon turns that stare back on him. "No," Kanon says.

Phacia spots her but Kanon does nothing other than step forward enough to spy on Maechen's map. She is indeed here simply as a Merc, a woman who hunts monsters and worse. She has apparently decided not to inflict that role on Ashley's head, today.

She records the location with her artificial eye and then says, "Consider it done," with no more empathy than that. The terrible, compounding tragedies of Omega and Xenobia, she gives no outward sign of empathizing to.

Having bothered Ashley and gathered the relevant information, she simply whirls on her heels and leaves.