melodiesoflife | We are off to see the Crystal Tree!

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We are off to see the Crystal Tree!

WHO: OPEN! Those setting out towards the Crystal Tree~
WHAT: Terra has arranged an expedition. Keep in mind that this takes place after the January Event!
WHEN: January 17th - January 27th
WHERE: Plains of Sorrow, Crystal Forest & Crystal Tree~
WARNING: None.

[ooc: Information and plotting about this adventure is posted here. If you have any questions please post them here as well. It's assumed that Terra posted up a help wanted for the heroes who don't know her to see if they want to come along. Settings will be described in top posts to keep thing organized!

Please note that the Friendly Monster and Crystal Tree sections will be one long thread.]

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Most people might well see Sephiroth as the Colonel within the Esdham Military first before anything else and he didn't mind that at all. It was a comfortable title that he wore like an old glove, even if it did have responsibilities along with it that were inherently different to what he had been on his home world.

"We've not yet come across any such monsters that might operate in packs, yet given the terrain I wouldn't rule out the potential for nocturnal predation." He nodded in a drop of silver on either side of his head and tilted his head down towards K'pandolu as she continued.

He agreed with her, for the most part.

"Larger groups can prove problematic, but at least in this part of the trip we're all moving in the same direction. Provided we delegate duties optimally once we make camp and remain focused on that I don't see that there should be any problems."

Yet, Sephiroth was already aware that a few of the Heroes he did know seemed more than a little out of sorts. He figured it would be as a result of the vision they'd been granted and while he hadn't been privy to it, he knew enough of previous occurrences to understand.

"What's important, is that we stick together."

Hopefully they could also recognise him as person as much as military personage- but that was simply easier to hold on to. She'd a little experience with that, perhaps- but then the Flame General wore his heart a little more openly.

She grimaced slightly at the thought of packs potentially attacking them, but nodded. "I'm sure between all of us, we can cover everything we need." She wasn't entirely familiar with everyone's skills, but with some instruction she was sure they'd manage.

That hadn't quite covered her main reason for speaking that way, though- but then, it was her fault for not making it explicit that she'd been speaking of the divisions between Heroes in that vision. She nodded again, her gaze lowered, and her tail twitching in discontent. "When everyone's united for a goal like this, it's easier to do so," she said quietly. "But- between all of the Heroes, over however long it takes- how can we guarantee all of us will stay committed to the same vision?"

It was very much that professional facade that Sephiroth had kept up for most of his life; he did it without much conscious thought and while it didn't make him very many friends at least he could be relied upon to remain that way. At least, on the outside.

At least it was made clear now, exactly what it was that might be concerning the miqo'te and the reason for her comment about large groups. He looked over her again, a little more curiously that second time, and tilted his head slightly to one side as if he might be able to somehow read what had brought that question on.

"This has always been a concern." He admitted, reminded of his discussions with Ashelia on the subject in the past; how it could be possible to ensure that so many Heroes all ultimately fought for the same outcome -there were so many more of them now, when compared to the twelve (if he remembered correctly) that had initially been brought to Aqures Ixen all that time ago. Sephiroth wasn't too sure, exactly what that 'same outcome' might be, anymore.

"The short answer being, that there aren't any guarantees. With so many different types of people there are bound to be differences of opinion."

As much as he might dislike it, it was the truth.

It gave off a feeling of reliability as well- or at least to K'pandolu. She straightened up a little under the examination, expression still bothered.

"I suppose it must have been," she agreed, settling into a slightly more at-ease position. "And… the more of us there are, the more difficult it becomes to convince everyone. And some might agree just because they can." She'd been lucky, in her expeditions in Eorzea- but then, for most of those she'd trusted the people she'd travelled with, or trusted the people who'd brought them along. And the Labyrinth had still been an interesting experience. "But… I'd rather not see everyone fall apart again." Not the way they had, after the accident with the Rift, and then Heroes turning against each other.

"Hm." A hum of acknowledgment was all that was needed to indicate that he not only understood K'pandolu, but that he appreciated that she'd hit the same wavelength of thought as he quite often took when considering the circumstances of the 'Heroes of Light' as a whole.

After all, even when Ashelia and Zelda had founded the so-called Heroes Guild, eventually -even inevitably- there were others who wanted to take their own approaches; to branch out under their own flags. To a certain extent, this is what generally happened when there were too many alpha-types and not enough to follow in good faith. It told of a general lack of trust that he couldn't raise a peep about, given his own nature.

"Whatever it is that you've experienced, if there is one thing to take from it...the fact that you've seen a potential outcome should change it considerably."

Maybe she had picked something up from Minfilia and the others after all. Now, if only she could work out how to put it to good use.

The kinds of reasons people joined hands together in a Free Company, in other words, even if most were supposed to be under the auspice of one of the Grand Companies.

She lifted her head, ears flicking back as she considered. "That's true, and I certainly hope we'll be able to," she acknowledged. And a vision of the future- it was more easily made use of than some of their visions of the past. That he was standing here, even… Already, that was something she could keep an eye on, though. "Perhaps, with that kind of purpose… we can keep from going astray. I…" Her gaze drifted off to the side. "I fear I didn't- help matters very much," she admitted, putting her hands together again.

Sephiroth couldn't help but draw his head to be tilted to the side as K'pandolu went on. Sure, he'd been in the same room when those that had gone to visit the Sage had all woken up but in terms of his learning about what had happened in each vision -they couldn't have all shared the same, right?- was probably vastly different depending on whom he'd speak to.

Therefore he had no comprehension of what 'purpose' exactly she might mean but it wasn't for him to kill what was left of anyone's positive outlook; especially since his comment had meant to encourage it.

He frowned a little and was quick to correct her; even though with only a half-beat of hindsight later it was rather hypocritical of him. Hadn't he spent several months at the end of last year procrastinating about how he'd really turn out in the end?

"You didn't do anything -whatever it was. Doesn't make much sense worrying over something you didn't do yet."

If nothing else, the period it had covered was long enough some of the details would have been indistinct, even without some matters being obscured. Though the purpose she referred to was, naturally enough, the one that had suffused her- that desire to cut free and run from a world she'd felt had offered only pain.

She closed her eyes for a moment against the feeling, fingers curled. "No," she agreed. "There's a chance, isn't there? There's always a chance. But- sometimes I wonder if we can succeed. At stopping the Calamity." At saving themselves. Those feelings were what had sparked that desire, after all.

Never mind that Sephiroth hadn't had much of an inkling as to the vision at that point, K'pandolu's question only underlined concerns that he had held firmly and for a long while already.

Several times, he'd asked himself that very same question. Who knew if that had something to do with the reason why he hadn't seen the vision; that he'd already knew the question it might leave behind in others? For him it still held much of an identity crisis, could he personally defeat the Calamity within himself as well?

Others had answered him before, too, and now here was Sephiroth feeling drawn to repeating words he hadn't taken very far into his own conscious mind when they'd been first uttered to him.

"There is always a chance that anything, could go for the better or for the worse. I suppose the vision was, as suggested afterwards, intended to stir such insecurities...even if they didn't need much stirring in the first place."

"I want to believe that. More than anything, I want to believe we can make it change for the better. But-"

She closed her eyes for a moment, one hand reaching to clasp the elbow of her other arm, gathering herself. Even if she wasn't in a state of mind for his words to help much, she appreciated that he was making the effort to reach out. She could, at the least, attempt some explanation in turn.

"I could certainly have gone without that." She hesitated, and straightened up again. "What we've already seen has been enough, hasn't it?" The trip to the Aqures Tosf of the past, if nothing else. "And- the Weapon…" Her ears flicked back against her head, and she took a deep breath, staring down. She was more removed from the situation now, but finding the Ultima Weapon here in the Research Facility on their escape had been a blow- as much as finding van Baelsar alive had been, and she hadn't quite reconciled that with Operation Archon being done. "It's hard not to feel that the odds are against us."

He might later come to think of it as a little backwards of himself, now being the one to prop anothers confidence up where not so long ago his had been turned on it's head and half-buried in ultimately pointless concerns about his identity. But there was something about the way that K'pandolu were really getting herself in something of a twist over all this that made him look back to how he'd been, with a clarity he hadn't had for a while.

"One would think..." It didn't take much to cast his mind back to the various events that Crystallis had thus far thrown in their way. Each a test in their own right, each potentially grounding to any high-spirit any one of them might hope to keep up. A bitterness, still raw as it had felt towards the Sage the first time, quickly rose up into his conscious thoughts again.

"...I said this before, to a few people. These avatars are toying with us. Pressure testing, I'd suggest, almost as if to see how much we can take before breaking." Sephiroth took a steadying breath before locking eye contact with K'pandolu once more, trying to will her into comprehending him.

"I think, and it's only my opinion, that they may be doing this to further the Calamity's will. In preventing us from being able to stop it, or maybe even to provoke us. After all, if it's to be believed, they've the experience of untold cycles of previous Heroes to draw upon as a resource."

Part of it was most likely that she'd spoken only a little of the events in Crystallis and Eorzea, and certainly not why Palitutu's betrayal and subsequent use of the Ultima Weapon had hit her so badly. She kept her ears trained on Sephiroth, desperate to stay in the here and now, trusting his words.

Subconsciously, she straightened up, tail lashing out behind her almost like a whip, eyes narrowing. "Making us dance," she murmured, glaring off into the distance. It had made her no happier to hear that kind of thing in the tales of her arcanist companion, and she was barely more ready to take that from family (however distant) than the strangers the Avatars were to her. But the words at least drove her to straighten her spine, set the fire in her gut once more as the rage against being controlled rose to life once more. "Then I do not wish to give them the pleasure."

She nodded, folding her arms as she lifted her gaze to meet Sephiroth's, and cast her mind back to try to recall what she'd heard of the Avatars. "Each of them is an embodiment of some part of the Calamity, correct? Then it would only stand to reason that they would seek to ensure it endures onwards." There was a bitter taste in her mouth at the thought. Perhaps it had been a misstep to think they'd ever had a chance at learning anything from the Sage. Still, that was done, and now she would simply have to deal with the hand they now held. She frowned, eyebrows drawing in. "It sounds harder, put that way," she said. "But- we can't let that stop us. If we do… then we have truly lost."

"Indeed." He noticed that straightening up of K-pandolu and perhaps identified it as that fierce defiance at being controlled that he had triggered within himself when the revelations of his own future back home had all settled and he'd managed to order them some. There were still questions, there always would be, but time and time again he'd been told that it was what he did now that made the difference.

So, to a certain extent, Sephiroth had put away those facts about his future and were starting to move on from them. He'd wasted a precious amount of time in worrying about it all.

"Right. While we also hold a part of the Calamity inside of us, we do not act as an extension of its will. Or at least by breaking the cycle we can prove such and actually look to destroy it."

Any thoughts about the Sage just made Sephiroth's gut twist uncomfortably in on itself and not only for the despair he'd managed to instill in so many; he'd revealed the presence of avatars and that some might hinder, others might help. It concerned Sephiroth exactly which category the Sage fell into, and moreover, exactly what 'help' others might intend.

"We need to re-assess what we do and don't know. We need to pinpoint those answers that we need and start asking questions in the right places. Breaking the cycle, might be exactly the window of opportunity that the Calamity needs; we need to make sure that it doesn't get that opportunity."

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We are off to see the Crystal Tree!

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