A Pretty Auburn Crystal - Printable Version +- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18) +-- Forum: Role-Play (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=27) +--- Forum: Town Square (IC) (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=21) +--- Thread: A Pretty Auburn Crystal (/showthread.php?tid=6648)

A Pretty Auburn Crystal - Ildur - 03-15-2014 ((This is in-game RP, formated and slightly edited to make sense: we moved a bit around and a copy-paste of the chatlog didn't make sense. It happens a day or so after this thread.. Actors are K'airos and Aeriyn. Also, at some point it rained but it was lost in translation. Woops!)) A white haired miqo’te woman dressed in red and gold robes walked around Crescent Cove’s plaza, or the closest thing the fishing village had to one. “Not here...” she muttered under her breath. On a nearby building, a Brass Blade was leaning on its wooden railing, looking both confused and bored. A smallshell ran wildly around, poking its claws into places and eating whatever it picked up. She noticed the well dressed woman, who was extremely well dressed for the Cove. ”Hey!” she waved. The other woman turned around, stopping her search long enough to say “What?” and then, once she had looked at the waving person, she added "Oh, a Blade." That one adjusted her mask and approached. “Uh...state your business, citizen!” “I was supposed to meet someone here. Have you seen him? Highlander, big, carries a long spear?” the well-dressed woman answered. “Is he a fisherman? Why is he fishing with a spear?” “No, he's a lancer.” “...who fishes!” “Maybe he does. I don't know his habits. He's supposed to have some samples for my research.” The Brass Blade circled around her. "Oh, you are a thaumaturge?" she said as she stopped walking. "Well, there are some...strong.looking men with wide shoulders in the docks. Maybe one of them is a highlander?" “Yes. Well, I looked and none of those men are him. I hope nothing happened...” The smallshell that was lurking nearby got closer to the Blade and started poking pieces of dirt and sand from under her heels. She did not pay any attention to it. "Well...I guess he hasn't arrived yet. What's your research about? Fishes?" she asked. ”It's... well, I'm not sure I can explain it exactly. I study magic of all different types and methodologies.” the other woman explained. “I have been working to... create a unified theory of aetheric manipulation. There are many different types of magic used, and I have put forth the hypothesis that they are all interconnected.” Fidgeting slightly and watching the smallshell's antics, she added: “Oh, I should introduce myself. I'm Aeriyn Ashley. It's not a miqo'te name; I'm adopted.” The Blade leant slightly forward, declaring: "I'm K'airos Thalen." Then, gesturing to the smallshell, she added: "And that's Shelly!" Aeriyn smiled. "K'airos... hm. You... look familiar." ”...do I?” blinked the other. Aeriyn gazed deeply at the other miqo'te, her oddly-colored ears twitching. ”Yes. You look like a woman I met in Drybone.” She sniffed the air. “You smell the same, too, though... somewhat more pungent." K'airos raised one hand and rubed the tip of her right ear. "I think I woudld re…oh! I was stationed there like a month ago? Maybe I just...left my scent all over the place...” She stopped, feeling suddenly embarassed by that last sentence. “No. I don't think so. K'airos... K is the Hipparion tribe of the southern Sagolii, yes? I suppose it was a relative of yours She didn't have a miqo'te name, either, though... maybe it was an alias.” “You have the geography right! How did she look like?” the Blade asked. “Was she shouty and mean? 'cause I know that one!” “Like you. But older. A little frumpy. Wore glasses. Seemed... nervous and in some sort of trouble.” ”Oh, that'd be my...my...!” K'airos lost her grip of the language and couldn't find the proper word. "Yeah! I know her! She's...unrelated." "Ah, I see." Aeriyn nodded, catching on the unspoken warning. K’airos managed to change the subject without coughing even once: “So where do you come from? You don't smell like the usual Ul'dahn woman.” “I live in Limsa Lominsa. I used to live in Ul'dah, though. Until things happened. My research takes me all over Eorzea, though.” “It must be nice to travel all over the continent! Why don't we wait for your friend under the shadow?” the blade offered, pointing at the shadows casued by the cliffs a few dozen feet behind Aeriyn. ”All right.” They walked there, beyond a short wooden bridge that felt like it was about to fall apart, into the shadows. Someone had been smart enough to build a house under the cliff’s shade. Both women stopped at the side of the bridge, from where a rope railing extended towards the house. “ This is better!” K’airos exclaimed. “ I don't miss the heat.” “I figured! I lived in a desert, so I'm im-munized! Or...used to it, anyway.” ” That makes sense. I lived here for a while, but I never got used to it. I suppose I was born in the Shroud, or somewhere else, but I don't know for sure.” K’airos took the chance to remove her Blade mask and turban, tying them to her belt. “I don't... remember anything from before Cartenau.” Aeriyn continued. “Were you there?” “Yes.” A pause. “Places, people, events I remember. But nothing about myself. It's... curious. Aeriyn shook her head and scanned the camp again, trying to find her missing contact. K'airos didn’t have words, but she filled the gap with a gentle tapping of the other woman's shoulder. After that, she found some words. "I'm sorry, but I guess that means you remember your family, right?" ”I don't. Nothing about myself or those connected to myself.” K’airos avoided pouting. “That sounds unfair. How does that type of amnesia even work?” “I remember Cartenau, the legatus, the Grand Company response to Garlean aggression... I don't know. I suspect it's not natural.” “Well, not everyday a moon falls on you and...mm.” K’airos paused, but didn’t stop long enough to let her thoughts and memories go far. “Do you think there's other people with that sickness?” “Possibly. I haven't encountered any others, though. After the battle, I remember nothing. When I came to, I was in Thanalan.” K’airos pondered, raising he reyes to the sky. “I was in the battle, too. I don't remember it finishing. I just woke up much, much later. My sister was nursing me back to health. But it was long enough for the Flames and my uncle to declare me dead.” Aeriyn frowned. "Most of us didn't walk away from that battlefield unscathed." K'airos Thalen leant over the rope. She found it flimsy, and it bent quite a bit thanks to her weight. “Some didn't. Mpf. You know... this is really depressing! What's your highlander's name?” “The aether currents are warped around you.” K’airos change of subject, as daring as it was, wasn’t match for that kind of conversational direction. She looked at Aeriyn, shocked. “What?” Aeriyn gazed directly at her and frowned. "How interesting. They're shifting almost completely out of phase..." “I don't...what are you talking about?” said the Blade, still confused. Aeriyn Ashley drew a thread of aether between her fingers and tried to shape it into a glowing rune while standing next to K'airos. The thread twisted, wavered and shuddered until her willpower managed to force it into the correct alignment. ”Fascinating!”she exclaimed. K’airos confusion vanished, leaving the way open to an outraged stomp of feet. ”What's that supposed to mean?” she demanded. Aeriyn looked at her with surprise. “ What do you mean--oh...you didn't do this to yourself? Oh, of course you didn't, you aren't a mage... how would you do it... to shift someone's aetheric field a hundred and eighty degrees out of phase...” she gazed upon the other woman, considering the matter. “This is unprecedented.” she begun “I've never even heard of this before, or even imagined it. You--the aetheric currents that flow throughout the world are warping and twisting around you! And you aren't dying horribly as a result.” Some muttering followed, mostly to herself. She reached into her robe and pulled out a pad of paper where she furiously started to scrawl upon. Meanwhile, K'airos's ears sat at a low angle. "This is a joke, right? You can't be serious about...whatever this is! I don't even know WHAT this is!" ”Oh, I'm quite serious... and amazed.” was the reply “It must've been Dalamud; or perhaps something at the battle. Perhaps Garlean magitech malfunction... were you near any exploding magitech armors? Ceruleum spills?” “Wh- no! Nothing like that! It just...I was knocked out!” K’airos clarified, event hough she didn’t remember exactly what happened. “Well, how would you know what happened if you were unconscious?” K'airos made her hands into fists, keeping her arms straight down and leaning slightly forward. “I was found by my sister after the battle was over. And she studies magic! She would have told me if there was anythign wrong with me!” The red robed woman frowned and her tail repeatedly curled and uncurled around her left thigh. "That would largely depend on her knowledge of magecraft. Many people use magic; less study it for its own sake. What methodology does your sister use?” K’airos was quiet for a very long moment as she tried to remember exactly where D’aijeen studied magic. “She was with the thaumaturges.” she said at last. “And she went to the Conjurer Guild in the Shroud.” ”Both thaumaturgy and conjury? I don't suppose this is a much older sister, is it?” K’airos was strangely angered by that question. "People need to stop thinking she's older!" she muttered under her breath. Aeriyn Ashley walked to the opposite side of the bridge, to another railing. She looked out across the sea. "My apologies; I didn't mean to offend you. I was only trying to gauge her potential ability. A younger sister that dabbles in both thaumaturgy and conjury is unlikely to have the training and skill necessary to cause something like this..." “Cause? You didn't...how could you think she'd do something...!” K'airos felt even more outraged, but then she suddenly calmed down. “Wait, what's -this- exactly?” “It's important to consider all variables. There's something very odd about you, magically speaking.” the other woman explained, turning around to face her. “I can't place exactly what it is, but as I already mentioned, the natural currents and flow of aether is distorted by your presence. Wherever you move, the field effect is distorted.” Not really sure she understood anything that was being said, K’airos ventured a question: “And why do you think that should have killed me?” Aeriyn turned away and looked at the water again. "The only other place I've seen that happen is in the presence of corrupted crystalline aether." "Like the Burning Wall?" ”Yes.” “ ...so my...aether-fields are like a pretty auburn crystal?” “I suppose that's one way of looking at it. But if you actually have been contaminated by corrupted aether, you shouldn't be alive. It's extremely toxic to living things... Animals may transform into monsters, but people usually just die.” The young Blade shifted in place, one hand combing her pigtails nervously. "Well...maybe you are wrong, I'm fine and you...you are just not good at that rune magic you did!" Aeriyn took a step away from K'airos and repeated the sigil-shaping, this time executing it perfectly. "Magic frays slightly around you."she said. “You could really help my research tremendously if you would allow me to obtain a sample...” K'airos dropped her shoulders and ears at that last Word .” You are a stranger! I don't...give samples to strangers.” “ Oh, not THAT sort of sample...” “Wh-oh no! I didn't mean...! That would...and I....and then you...!” K’airos trailed off, waving her hands in front of her, denying anything and everything. The mage looked faintly alarmed and held her hands up to placate the other, "I just want to draw off a bit of the raw aether. No blood or hair or... any sort of bodily fluids…” “...you could be a succubus for all I know!” “... and... what?" Aeriyn blinked. “You are pale, you are -too- well dressed for this village, looking for a man that is not here, and your staff looks evil!”K'airos explained with great alarm. She pointed at the other woman’s gloves. “And your gloves are shaped like black claws!" Aeriyn Ashley looked at them, "Yes, well, I am outfitted for battle. I did not know what to expect. The adventurer I hired already left, so should I not protect myself?” “Maybe he ran away after you told him his aether was all weird and that he should be dead...! Or something!” ”I didn't tell him that, and there's nothing unusual about his interactions with the field effect...” Aeriyn replied, losing herself in thought for a brief time. ”He probably ran into trouble. Oh, my... I should go look for him.” she concluded, but shook the idea quickly enough. “But... a sample! You could help advance Eorzean knowledge of magic tremendously!” “I'll...have the thaumaturges look at me when I get back at the city, but I'm not giving you a sample of...of any kind!” was K’airos answer. Aeriyn shook her head. “They won't know what to look for. Only knowledge of the black would reveal this and none are left at the Ossuary..." K'airos Thalen took a step back and searched the floor with her eyes for her smallshell friend, who until now had been wandering all over the place, picking succesful fights with the dirt of the Cove. “That sounds like what a succubus who wants to eat my soul would say!” she said without looking up to Aeriyn. That one sighed and shook her head, her ears and tail drooping in clear disappointment, "Well, if you don't want to help, I guess I can't do anything about it." K'airos Thalen knelt down and picked up the crab, much to its sheer terror. "That's very kind for a succubus in disguise!" “But I'm not a succubus. I'm a Keeper.” she frowned, wringing rainwater from her pigtails, noticing that the hood of her robe had filled with water. K'airos yelled "Same thing!" evidently missing the point of what the other woman had just said. "Don't follow me! I have the authority to put you in jail!" she added, turning around and walking away with the terrorized crab between her arms. “Well.” Aeriyn shrugged. “That was strange...”