Player Plot: The Mysidian Tower!

[jadethenecromancer]

Who: Everyone who signed up for the plot!
What: Jade is taking a team to explore the Mysidian Tower before it'd swallowed by the Calamity.
When: February 8th-12th
Where: The Mysidian Tower on the Continent of Ruin.
Warning: Everything that can be expected of surprise monster encounters. Beyond that, whatever people bring with them.

The Enterprise brings everyone involved to the tower on the afternoon of February 8th. Thankfully the early floors have already been cleared by previous explorers, making the initial entry easy and relatively safe. Once the Heroes start reaching the upper floors, however... Who knows?

All threads will be linked here for easy access:
OOC info post
Ground Floor - Campsite
Friendly Monster
Floors 30-39
Floors 40-49
Floors 50-59
Floors 60-69
Floors 70-79
Floors 80-89
Floors 90-99
Floors 100-101 will be open at a later date.

Comments

[jadethenecromancer]

[There was no avoiding it anymore, was there?

The two of them had been perfectly capable of focusing on their work, both at the Crystal Tree and here, but the knowledge of what Jade and Tear had done in the alternate future hung over them every time they spoke. True, it hadn't actually happened... but two years worth of memories was hard to ignore.

Uncomfortable though it was, this was something that had to be addressed sooner or later. Might as well do it while the campsite was relatively quiet.

Jade approached her one evening while she was writing in her journal. He nodded towards the chirping sack.] We got a stowaway on board with us, I see.

[cantante]

[ Though Tear had heard someone approaching, quietly preparing to close her journal before they got too close, it caught her a little off-guard when looking up she saw Jade, eyes widening fractionally.

They had spoken to one another in passing, especially in preparation for this particular expedition, but since before their trip to Mysidia the conversations had never stepped out of discussing the issue at hand, ignoring the opportunity to talk about what they had seen. Now, she knew the chances of the same happening again were unlikely.

But with the contents of her sack being called into question, it could be delayed just a tiny bit more. ]

Colonel... [ She reaches over and pulls the accused sack closer, looking a little sheepish. ] I don't know if she counts as a stowaway when I was the one who brought her.

[jadethenecromancer]

Smuggling, then. I'm not sure what I think of that.

[The teasing was half-hearted at best, little more than an attempt at buying some time to consider how to approach this. An apology was out of the question. It wouldn't just be useless, it would be nothing short of insulting to imply Tear hadn't made her choices on her own, as though it had only been Jade who had led her astray. No, they were both at fault, even if the plan had been his.

Perhaps he was overthinking this. Sometimes it was best to get straight to the point.]

...Is there anything you want to say to me, Tear? [Considering that Tear had seen him turn against Anise after she'd voiced her objections, attack her with every intent to kill, without a hint of remorse... And that wasn't even touching his willingness to sacrifice thousands, a plan that had been his idea in the first place. Things like that weren't easy to forget.]

[cantante]

I'll take all responsibility for any inconveniences one baby chocobo might inflict. [ Tear's response came in the form of a half-shrug, extracting the culprit from the sack so that she was safe in her hold. Whether she was meant to work as a distraction, it did allow the melodist a few seconds more to consider Jade's question.

And in the end, she could only answer with a soft sigh. ]

What else is there to say? [ Her displeasure? Disgust? Just what could she possibly tell Jade that he didn't already know? He was right—she had acted of her own volition, when it all came down to it. ]

Unless... you are saying you regret that I did choose to walk down that path with you?

[jadethenecromancer]

[That was a good question. At the time Jade had been grateful.. insofar as he'd been capable of gratitude at that point. Now...

The short answer was yes -- he did regret involving Tear. Was there any point in expressing that? Probably not. It was a spontaneous emotional response on his part, born of a guilty conscience. Irrational, and not something to act on or bother her with.]

No. I think I have enough regrets without claiming your actions as my burden.

[Perhaps she was right. Words weren't going to change anything. It was nearly impossible to talk about this without veering towards self-pity, anyway.]

[cantante]

Heh. That would be for you to decide, but I will not allow you to claim responsibility of the choices I made. [ A smile touched upon the melodist's lips, but there was no mistaking the bitter undertone of it. Surely Jade would understand, from the perspective of one soldier to another.

However, that didn't mean there wasn't anything she could say. Her memories of her last moments—which she hadn't dared to discuss with anyone—were fuzzy, but she remembered the very real fear she had felt over what she witnessed. It had nothing to do with the the sensation of death taking her for its own. ]

We... did a lot of things wrong, along the way. Up until the very end, I can't condone some of the actions we chose.

[jadethenecromancer]

[A grim smile appeared on Jade's face as well. Personal responsibility was a well-worn subject for both of them -- had been even before Crystallis. They both knew better than to blame their faults on others.]

Neither can I. [But they had chosen to do them, anyway. It wasn't as though they hadn't known their actions were reprehensible.]

Depending on how things go from here... We could still choose to follow the same path. We've proven we're capable of it, in the right circumstances.