[Thread; Closed]

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Characters: Rydia and Golbez
Progress: On-going
Summary: Rydia meets up with Golbez to fill him in on what's happened.
Location: Alexandria, the inn restaurant
Date: May, 1803
Warnings: Nah

Once Rydia recovered from her long journey, the summoner decided to make good on her promise to meet Golbez. It had been undeniably surreal to speak with him earlier, given all that happened and the fact that she had not expected to hear from him again. His departure with Fusoya had seemed rather final, after all.

Still, this world and whatever it was that drew people into it had a way of changing plans, regardless of the new arrivals' desires. She knew how disorienting it was to arrive in Gaia, and it must be all the more jarring for Golbez, disrupted from the sleep he shared with his people. Given that Rydia had less reason to be awkward around him than Kain or Cecil, the latter of whom wasn't in town anyway, it seemed best that she be the one to greet him. Besides...she was curious about Golbez. There had been so little time to know the man, once he had been freed of Zemus' control.

She headed to the inn's restaurant area, figuring it would be easy enough to find her there, and that Golbez might want refreshment after his long journey, anyway. A waitress showed her to a table and the summoner shook her head at the suggestion of ordering more than tea, at least for now. Instead, she unrolled a map and stared at its contents, mulling over locations and choices while she waited for Golbez to arrive.

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[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar deep voice, Rydia glanced up to regard a completely unfamiliar face. At least she was prepared for this, though it was still startling to finally see him at least. She tilted her head, looking him over. Curious side-glances wouldn't do, and weren't in keeping with her very direct nature, anyway. "...I can see the resemblance."

Then she smiled, a smile free of awkwardness. Once Rydia had made up her mind about someone, that was it. "It's nice to finally see you, Golbez. Please, join me."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"I've been well and have some interesting stories to go with that, though perhaps I should focus on that last question first." Golbez was new, after all. It was better to give him a firm grounding in his situation before delving into that craziness.

Rydia leaned back against the booth, thoughtful. "From what I've been told, this started several months ago, at the beginning of the year. People from a wide range of places -not just the Blue Planet- started arriving anywhere and everywhere. There doesn't seem to be a pattern, of those taken or where they arrive. And as you've noticed with Mysidia, locations from other worlds sometimes arrive, too. As far as I'm aware, Mysidia is the only one from our world...but I wouldn't be surprised if that change, either."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

At that, Rydia couldn't help but nod, her expression growing more serious. "I don't know why we were brought here and not Mysidians, but I think they're fine. I can still reach my Eidolons, and not all of them are native to this world." If the Feymarch was intact, she saw no reason why Mysidia's natives weren't also unharmed. Thre was slight hesitance at mention of her Eidolons, but Rydia didn't elaborate on that yet.

"While people arrive in Gaia, natives from this world have vanished. According to rumors, this has slowed but not ceased. Few of them return, far fewer than those arriving. I've heard of some returning over the device and met one, but from the sounds of it, they don't remember anything. There are other odd signs, too; the return of mist to this continent, the disappearance of ships sailing from this continent to others...and I even heard of an entire town's population vanishing." She tapped her fingers against the map and sighed. "It's not an unpleasant world, but there are definitely forces at work, and I don't doubt we'll see more disturbing signs as time passes."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia smiled a little at that. "Very true. Most of the other 'Sky People' I've seen are just as determined to discover the source of this problem, and the native Gaians are as helpful as they can be. This city has been pretty welcoming overall, though with disappearances continuing, people are understandably becoming pretty worried."

She paused, that smile fading. "Let me amend what I said about my Eidolons earlier. Those that already have a presence in this world were cut off from me, at first. I thought at first that it might be another symptom of trouble here, but not so. When I summoned those I could, they seemed to be confused by my trouble. Summoning is a bit different here and found a way around it...for the most part. However, they're not able to provide any further information, so we'll just have to find our answers some other way."

About to say something else, she paused and darted a sheepish look. "I'm not overwhelming you, am I? I know that's a lot to hear at once. And that's far from all I know."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia chuckled. "All right. I just wanted to be sure."

She fell silent for a moment, then backtracked to some of her earlier points, before getting sidetracked by Eidolon talk. "I'm sure you noticed the mist on your way to Alexandria. From speaking with Regent Cid of Lindblum and others, I've learned that it was a common phenomenon up until about three years ago, when it vanished. The mist returned at the same time as people started vanishing and arriving, so it must be linked somehow. It covers the Outer Continent also, though it's not as thick there."

And how would she know? Well... "I just returned from there, actually. While sea travel seems impossible, there is an underground network of tunnels, which stretch across this continent and to the outer one. It's an...odd way to travel, but as there aren't other options at this point, I can't really complain."

I was so going to show you that icon if you didn't snag it. XD

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"There are, powered by the mist. They haven't left the continent either, so the tunnels really are the only way to travel, at present." A world without airships at all would have been a strange for Rydia as well, but fortunately, that wasn't an issue. "There's a large insectoid creature called a gargant, that people tame into carrying them via car. It's...odd...to say the least, but I suppose they would say the same about the Lunar Whale."

She rested her chin in her hand, staring off for a moment before she resumed speaking. "I heard this scholar speak about the mist, and he said the source was a tree on the outer continent. Supposedly it was destroyed, but...well, I saw it when I was there. I didn't get very close, but it seemed as though the mist was coming from it, as described before. Even so, that leaves more questions than answers. How did it return? Who brought it back, and why? What if it can't be felled in the same way, this time? Not that I'm quite clear on how it happened before...."

...that video is so awesome. XD If only we had Warrior of Light!

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia nods at mention of the chocobos. "There are plenty of chocobos here, though not in the variety I remember back home. Still, at least they're a decent option to expensive airship travel. As for the moogles, they try to be helpful, but they often don't know much more than we do. Still, every so often they turn up a piece of information that's new, so it's worthwhile to listen to them."

She raised an eyebrow at mention of 'something quite strange' though held off from asking at the moment--more because she still had a lot to tell him than because she wasn't curious. "If we can't, then there's plenty of places to explore that might yield answers. We'll just have to keep searching. Who knows? We might learn how to travel beyond these continents and gain even more answers. Progress of any sort is still progress."

<3 No problem! I've done that, too. >.>

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia, for her part, steered away from Cecil and the others, at least for now. She wasn't done with explanations and Golbez seemed to need those more than reminders of his dark past.

Anyway, yes. Currency. "You don't start off with much gil here, to be sure, but there are ways around that. Some people settle in to whatever settlement they arrive in and take whatever jobs are available, and plenty earn money through participating in various hunts posted. This world doesn't seem to run out of monsters terrorizing people, or people willing to pay a handsome sum to get rid of them. I've done this, though I might see about hiring myself out as a tutor of magic, if I get tired of hunting. We'll see. Aside from airships, transportation isn't too expensive. There are boats that stick close to the continent and provide reliable travel, though I haven't used them. Chocobos are the cheapest option, outside of traveling by foot."

She tilted her head, suddenly curious. "Are you planning a world tour right away? Where would you go next? Though I can think of a few places that you're better off avoiding...."

And I didn't almost post this Terra's journal, either. >.>

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia made a face. "Conde Petie. The dwarves there are nice enough, but if you want to reach the mountain path that goes to Madain Sari and the Iifa Tree, they'll insist that you go through a marriage ceremony first."

She paused. "...and yes, I speak from experience. Cecil and I went through it, though because it was the only way to continue our quest. You'd think the fact that he was already married would count for something, but it didn't matter. I preferred those in King Giott's castle."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

"I see that." Rydia darted a look at Golbez, even as her lips quirked a bit. "And he took it well enough, after the initial shock. We figured it would be less awkward than pairing up with one of the other people we barely knew in our large group."

And then she rolled her eyes. "He was certainly more mature about it than someone. You'd think I'd actually gotten married, from the reaction I received." ...well, okay, she had, but only in the technical sense that probably wasn't even binding anywhere else.

"...as for other places, the Ice Cavern is as fun as it sounds. There's nothing worthwhile there, unless you enjoy hypothermia."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

That question brought forth a look of slight annoyance, though not directed at Golbez. "Oh, it was Edge. I decided to ignore him until he could let it go--or at least pretend to. I'm telling you all this now, since you might as well hear it from me instead of having a worse rant shoved in your face later."

Rydia's annoyance swiftly melted away, not interested in dwelling on what was past longer than need be. She chuckled. "Good idea, about the cavern. The Evil Forest is also exactly what it sounds like--these Gaians are very literal people. I haven't personally entered, but I've passed by it, and warned against entering by other travelers. Perhaps if there was something interesting about the place, it would be a different matter...but so far, I don't see that happening." The summoner shrugged.

"Treno ought to be a far more interesting place, though you'll have to get used to never seeing the sun and there's plenty of crime. On the other hand, they do have an auction house which turns up artifacts from other worlds every so often. It might be worth a look."

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

There was a brief expression at Golbez' first comment, that probably made it clear that Rydia could think of at least one person who'd make it everyone's business. Hopefully, she was wrong, but the possibility remained. For now, she pushed such thoughts aside.

"Hopefully, he'll have some freshly-gained insight on what's happening around us. I ought to visit him also, sometime, if he hasn't spoken with someone from the Outer Continent journey already. Perhaps he'd be able to provide some context to what I saw over there." The thought was honestly tempting and it showed. "Can you do me a favor and let me know what he has to say? I'll be happy to do likewise, when I get the chance. And I want to hear from you, anyway. No dropping off the face of the earth, please." Her friendly chiding was reminiscent of her similar warnings to Kain--though she had the feeling that unlike the dragoon, Golbez might actually listen.