melodiesoflife | Event || Terra Incognita

Entry tags:

Event || Terra Incognita

Characters: Anyone who signed up for the trip!
Where: The Enterprise / Mysidia.
When: Starting from the 18th of November.
Summary: The first trip to the Continent of Ruins is finally happening! The Heroes of Light, the Enterprise Crew, Cid and O'aka are all onboard for the trip. What will the Heroes of Light find there? Will they come back alive? Feel free to start your own top-comment thread about your character exploring Mysida and its surroundings! For details regarding Mysidia, please click here.
Warning: Nothing (yes, they'll come back alive).

Open Mingle || The Enterprise
Event || Welcoming Committee

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[ooc: We might have to retrospectively add/adjust things as it develops in the other thread but it practically begs for them to have a few moments afterwards!]

Had Sephiroth known what had awaited him in the central chamber of the Pyramid when they'd been escorted inside when they first arrived, doubtless he would have gone more out of his way to disguise himself. He still wasn't convinced which had been worse; the fact that he'd instantly recognized his own image in the glass, but others in their group -more specifically those who had been ignorant of events concerning the last cycle- had quickly made the connection. His only saving grace was the fact that silver hair wasn't so much of a rare trait especially among the elezen.

A part of him wanted to throw it out, to stubbornly refuse to care or allow himself to put too much thought into it. The thousands of times that he'd been told -and told himself at least twice that amount- that he wasn't that man seemed to be holding up more fervently now than it had in the past. After all, anything that might be a 'trigger' to what insanity might await him in the future he now knew about. Ashelia herself had been more than right, in that regard.

Given that it might be dangerous, though, for any one resident of the Pyramid to also make that connection to him, when Sephiroth returned to the building later in the week he made sure that his head was covered. It was simple enough to find a long black cloak with a hood - given as his height suited a lot of the styles available to most elezen on the new continent. No matter how foreboding it might make him appear, there was no escaping the fact that he needed to take a longer look around inside.

Having spotted Lady Ashe -her disguise not fooling him anymore than his attempt at a straight face had before- Sephiroth was but a pace to her side when he overheard her murmur. It was very low and very quiet though; he could easily have been mistaken in what he'd heard.

"I'm not certain at this point, whether to be enamored or simply horrified, don't you think?"

He too, took great care to keep his voice low in pitch and as private as possible between the two of them. Great chambers like this one could easily echo sound around and besides, in places of worship hushed voices were always polite to keep.

Ashelia glanced at Sephiroth, reveling in the fact that she didn't have to look up at him thanks to her new height. "Is that not what we all want - to be remembered? To be glorified by future generations?" Her voice was, however, sardonic in tone. The whole thing was disturbing to her - though, deep down, she was puzzled as to where the past version of herself fit into all this. Had she really done nothing noteworthy in the previous cycle?

"That was not you, Sephiroth. You did not make those decisions." It applied to her as well, she thought. "Though I must commend them on their flare for the dramatic. A striking composition, indeed."

Had it not been for the dryness in Ashelia's tone, Sephiroth might well have considered that a sound argument. Isn't that what everything in life was about, ultimately? Such a lacking statement could be extended into a reason to do pretty much anything.

"True enough." He answered of both of her comments with a single one of his own, a poor attempt to dismiss how the imagery had unnerved him more than he's allowing himself to acknowledge really; after all, he now knew so much more of the mind behind those decisions. The basic knowledge of how the pieces fit together, perhaps.

"Would that we knew what it meant."

Edited 2015-12-03 22:11 (UTC)

"That will come with time," Ashelia answered, keeping her voice firm. Father willing. She couldn't be sure of course, but Sephiroth had shown himself to be somewhat less like the rock she had originally thought him to be. There was no reason to voice her doubts to him when he was so filled with his own, and concerning his own nature. It was all understandable, but just the same.

"First we must deal with the Calamity once again spreading. It stopped once. There must be a way to replicate the situation. Buy ourselves more time."

Would that he could regain some of that strong confidence in himself that he'd always held so close before, it would be of little surprise that those that had known him the longest -like Ashelia- would have also noticed but it's a small mercy that there is no reason to bring it up. Sephiroth would forever hold himself together, for the most part, in front of others.

"I agree. That has to be the first priority. We've no idea, as yet, to what speed it might resume it's consumption of Crystallis." All very matter-of-factly, all very logical as always.

"I might suggest that we're very careful of how many Heroes might decide to go and see for themselves."

Ashelia sighed. "I have no control over the other Heroes. Would that I had - we might be much farther along figuring all this out if I did." She shook her head. "All we can do is hope that their actions cause no undue political tension - I worry about the Empire and its people as much as anyone with a conscience might, but there are those among us that would no doubt think nothing of marching up to their gates and offering their hand in friendship with no thought to their own safety, or the safety of others, or the political impact, or...or..."

She trailed off, at a loss for words. That didn't happen often. "There are too many of us. Short of becoming a tyrant and physically intimidating the others into obedience, there is naught I can do to protect them but offer. No, they will have to make their own mistakes - I only pray those mistakes do not doom us all."

It was all that Sephiroth could do but to stand there and listen. Impeccable manners aside, Ashelia's words meant a lot to him and he was just starting to understand how he might grow to treasure that. She and Jade both had sat and, although it had put him on the spot at the time, they had listened to what was on his mind with both grace and patience. They couldn't understand, not ever, but the fact they had given objectivity to what could have been a destructive set of revealed facts...there wasn't a value that could be put on that.

"I daresay things at Esdham are about to be turned up a notch yet again." He tried to scoff a short laugh, as if it might help to lighten the mood. "Not before time, I suppose."

She was right after all, there were so many Heroes now. Hard to control, even harder to get to work seamlessly as the community Ashelia and Zelda might have hoped for when the Heroes guild were founded.

"Is that so?" Ashelia cocked her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed. "What transpires in Esdham?" She asked in genuine curiosity, as her attention had needed to be mostly focused inward on Aqures Ixen's recovery from the invasion, but she had a good idea what the emotional climate of a nation that had just lost a good amount of its military might be. Sharing a border with the Empire wouldn't help matters either.

"There has been no real movement on the border, ever since the battle."

Sephiroth tried not to sound overly proud of that; while no one could rightly condemn him for feeling still a measure of victory, he found his duties in Esdham since had lacked a certain vigor. Endless meetings, councils of various higher-ranked officials debating on what should be the military focus in the interim, all produced no definitive direction in which Esdham should now turn it's focus.

It was quiet, too quiet for a man who had spent much of his life at the front line of one war or another.

"While we might take a sense of relief from that, the military runs the risk of it's troops becoming complacent."

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Event || Terra Incognita

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Re: Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week

Pyramid of Prayers - Later in the week