the first meeting

[dalmascanecrol]

[ It almost seemed the Primal had beckoned them. Alphinaud, Papalymo, Yda and Urianger had come to investigate Alexander, and there had been a large open passage. They'd all entered together, and there was a city. After a bit of navigation, though...

...there was a Primal standing in the center of the town. Well, it looked like a Primal to all those who could see it, the four who presented themselves inside. They looked like a being of pure Light, eying the four.

But it seems they won't make the first move. Not yet. ]

Comments

[icywarmth]

...We're there, so I think he'll have a chance to explain.

[ They are. They're at the end, and a man with white-blond hair and a large black cape is sitting there. Still. Crystal shards in his hair. A mess.

But he is silent. Igeyorhm moves closer, quietly. ]

I've brought Auracite. This one has something inside it. And an ally - she's from this iteration.

[readypunch]

Oh!

[She peers at him curiously- worrying, a little, with all those shard in his hair.]

We don't know what, exactly- and we'd like to find out. I mean- I'm not from this reflection exactly! But home's close enough.

[dynast_king]

[ There's a silence. Until a voice breaks though - it sounds too young, as if it's just gotten though puberty. ]

...Maybe this stone will be the one.

[readypunch]

[…oh no oh shit. If they're this young- should they really?]

Uh. Maybe! But, I mean- are you sure? How- what do you know about these?

[dynast_king]

Auracite is a prison made by the Occuria. The same stuff which grows on my body. I deserve to take it back.

[readypunch]

…oh. So, you're, um. Kind of intimately familiar with it, then. Does it… do anything to you?

[dynast_king]

...Maybe it'll finally end me. [ He says so casually. ] My body keeps trying to become the new Sun-Cryst - that's what made all these rocks.

[readypunch]

The Sun-Cryst- and that makes more Auracite? I don't know what's in this stone, but if you're willing…

[she'll hold the stone out to him.]

[dynast_king]

...Long ago, when Ivalice was around, I wanted revenge on the Archadian Empire. It-- it had taken my home, and my brother from me. The Gods gave me another sort of stone - Nethicite. It doesn't hold a soul like this rock.

It holds Mist. Magick. And when it's exploded? It destroys everything.

[ Seems Vaan is explaining, as he takes the stone. His hands... he's still a young adult, fingers having crystal scattered though them. ]

[readypunch]

So they're no good for people, either.

[she hisses.]. So- that's what happened, then. But- the magic was able to go that far?

[not a story she likes. She touches his fingers gently- worrying.]. …were you at the centre of it? Is that why… this happened to you?

[dynast_king]

...Gerun still holds me. [ Vaan then whispers. ] That's why I'm changing. [ But he seems to smile at the touch. ]

I detonated it in their capital city. But it spread further then it should. That's not when Ivalice died, though. There was time for me to see what I did - in th'eyes of my former friends.

[readypunch]

Gerun? A- person? Or a place? [she'll keep holding on, then, fingers brushing against him.]

The capital… the heart of their power, huh. No? They saw- the results of that. Of… the world crystallising?

[dynast_king]

A person. Well, Occuria aren't people, are they? They're above us.

[ His voice is going quiet, and Igeyorhm knows the Esper is taking his body. Will it finally end him...? ] The world didn't crystallize, that's just me. No, it just-- everything was dead. Twisted. Everything was dead and gone...

[readypunch]

They're… I dunno, I guess- if they're like Deities. But some of the people here are good…

[she holds onto him, still, reaching out.]. So it made it somewhere nothing could live. That… it sounds awful.

[dynast_king]

...Gods-- Deity are never good.

[ oh, Vaan. ] It was. It was after I-- after it happened that my mind cleared.

[readypunch]

I dunno. The ones we met when we came here- they were pretty nice.

When you saw what had happened…. You don't think- they influenced you?

[dynast_king]

I kept seeing my brother. Asking me to seek revenge for-- all of this. Maybe now I can repent... letting that spirit in the Stone have the rest of my life.

[readypunch]

Revenge, huh…. For him? For you- for everyone who suffered? [she pulls him closer.]. …I'll think of you. What name should I think of?

[dynast_king]

...My name is Vaan. [ there's a little smile, as he closes his eyes.

His body stops moving, and Igeyorhm places a hand to Yda. That is, before its' eyes snap open again, looking around. It seems the Esper is awake. ]

[readypunch]

Vaan.

[she moves one of her hands to touch Igeyorhm's- and goes still when those eyes open.]. Hello?

[dynast_king]

...Hello.

[ The Esper is quiet, looking at themselves. Not showing who they are. ] Trapping me in a corpse of a body to save another?

[readypunch]

[she's curious, and watching them. She might not get any hints, but- it could still tell her something.]

I wanted to protect her. And- I don't think he minded.