melodiesoflife | Event || Strategy

[ Once more Cid rolled his eyes and shook his head, but that time it was directed at Cloud and Ira. ]

Y'know kids, if your plan involves everyone dying you might as well call it a day now. I'm sure Garland will even lend you a hand for that.

[ This aside, Kurma was the next one to step forward when the soul divider was mentioned. ]

If that's Ancient construct, our people specialized in Magitek can work on it. However, there are still two issues. We don't know anything about the melodies and we're running out of time. [ A pause. ] The Ancients died out before ever perfecting their system. Even if you have a plan to modify it, three months won't be enough.

[Jade crosses his arms and drums his fingers on one bicep. Kurma has a point, unfortunately. Any plan they want to enact with the Soul Divider would require man-hours they don't have. Even if they started months ago, it probably wouldn't have been enough. They need more time.

Time... Well, this idea might not convince anyone of the Heroes' collective sanity, but...]

...There is one place that isn't bound by time. And thanks to the Ancients, we know it's possible to move celestial bodies there. At least moons, possibly planets.

[A dry smile.] Of course, going there would present a whole new host of unknowns.

There is a profound silence following Jade's statement. "You want to- stop time around Crystallis. Even try to pull the entire planet into the Rift?"

Jack leans on his hands and goes very stiff and still, and he stares Jade down with an indecypherable gaze. Concern, wonder, but what wins out is that he's considering it.

When he finally speaks, it is in a matter-of-fact tone. "With a powerful-enough time engine, it would be possible to pull Crystallis into a pocket of Time, remove its influence from the rest of space and time. It would prevent the Calamity from infecting other times. It may also keep us from going home." The sheer tension in Jack at this idea comes out through those last words.

"There's no breaking a Time Bubble from the inside. And just because I know it's possible doesn't mean I know how it was done. But if we get to the point that we are completely out of options..."

Doctor.

Jack's voice falters. "...it's there."

[Twilight blinked once, twice...]

Yeah, let's keep that as the very last resort... though, I wonder if it's possible to shove the Calamity in there instead.

I mean, at the very worst, one of us might have to shove it in there and get caught up in it, but it would be a lot better than shoving the entire planet in there.

Inside a Time Bubble? Given that the Calamity has already contaminated most of the planet, I'm not sure if they can be easily separated like that...

[Not that he knows much about this Time Bubble business, so really, Twilight's guess is as good as his.]

I don't particularly like this idea either, but until we come up with something better, these are the sort of options we're dealing with.

[Wait a second. Time Bubble? It doesn't take long for Selphie to shoot Jade a very alarmed look.]

No! No compressing time. That's what's happening in my world right now and I dunno if the rest of my friends or my world are okay or not.

There has to be another way...

We do not need to put the Calamity into the Rift. If we choose to believe what Kalki told us in her...what was it called?...her 'video', the true body of the Calamity already resides there. What we see is as the tip of an ice burg.

[He shrugs, not meaning to tell the others they are wrong, but needing to issue the warning nonetheless.]

So if we were able to draw the whole of Crystallis inside, it would only bring the planet closer to the Calamity. I think that is why the spirit in the rift warned us away.

And Sir Kurma, I am glad you are safe. We have not heard from you for far too long.]

And the entire time everyone's been arguing over what to do, a certain red and black-clad figure has been... busy trying to set himself up to go to sleep.

"Look, this is all great and all, but does anyone else has a plan that doesn't require the impossible in saving everyone and their kitchen sinks? I mean, I'm all for world saving, but even the Avengers are forced to lose lives every once in awhile!" Deadpool said. "And just because everyone thinks I'm Ninja Spider-Man doesn't mean I'm going to act like him. Trust me, all you get is ulcers trying the whole 'everyone lives' schtick. That, or being hijacked by obese scientists with a superiority complex."

Gonna sound crazy, but I agree with our brain-dead friends for once.

[ Cid tilted his head toward Ramza and Selphie. ]

The Ancients moved the moon, that's all fine and dandy but that's basically a dead rock. Now you're talking about moving an entire planet. How in the world do you propose we move the atmosphere with it?

[ A sigh. ]

And that's not talking about the sun and the gravitational pull of all the shit that's out there. You know, we kinda need the sun not to freeze our asses off, plants kinda need sunlight, we kinda need plants for oxygen and we kinda need gravity to keep the seas from going cray. You don't want to move just the planet, you want to move the entire freaking solar system and pray it doesn't break down once it's in the rift. That's three dozen steps beyond moving a dead rock if you ask me.

...As I said, it would present a whole new host of unknowns. I wouldn't have brought it up if we had more realistic options readily available.

[Jade isn't surprised that the idea is shot down. It was little more than him thinking out loud.]

Regardless, right now time is our greatest enemy. We may be able to defeat Garland within two months, but that will mean little if we can't follow it up.

[Mary's been quiet this whole time, but the berating words that keep coming from Cid finally spur her to speak. She steps forward from the back of the crowd and makes sure to catch his eye.]

The fact is we've been doing all we can here with the limited information we have. We've worked hard to turn every stone we can find and try to uncover every mystery, and most of what we find is what others did wrong. The Ancients, the previous cycles, we've found their mistakes. We've found their attempts to try to change things. We have a long list of what didn't work and what made things worse. It may seem like we've gone around breaking things, but everything we've found only served to keep everything repeating as it had been, and that wasn't going to last forever.

[She slams her hand down on the table and glares at the non Heroes present.]

If any of you have been sitting on something, waiting to see if we were worthy of knowing it, now's a fine time to speak up. Kalki's been the only one to really volunteer anything and frankly none of us want to make that our plan if we can help it. We're willing to put ourselves on the front lines and confront whatever enemy we have, but we need to know you're supporting us from here.

[ Kurma turned to Mary and was the one to reply. ]

Whilst I will not comment on the diplomatic skills, or lack thereof, of the regent- [This caused Cid to shake his head and mutter something along the lines of 'precious coming from the emperor's sonny'.] You would do well not to compare our contribution to Kalki's. She always knew more than any of us and she had a gift to manipulate your emotions. Lest you forgot, our people's lives are on the line and they shall lose as much as you if we fail in our endeavors. Do not mistake our lack of answers for animosity.

[ With that said, Prajapati was the one to speak once again. ]

The last we need is for us to turn on each other. Would I know anything that could be of help, I would share it without a second thought. As it is, it is my belief working on the Soul Divider is our best option. It is close as we have to a peaceful solution to deal with the Calamity. More importantly, it is not something any of us could accomplish without the Heroes of Light. If the solution doesn't come from our world, then perhaps it is it.

[ She turned to Jade. ]

Sir Jade, I will have our people assist your work in any possible way. Even if our timeframe is limited, this is our best hope.

Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[He inclines his head.]

I've been working on adapting my homeworld's technology to be compatible with the Soul Divider since we first found it. With the added knowledge of my colleagues [He nods to Jack and the others who'd chimed in during the pre-meeting] I believe we can have a theoretical framework and instructions prepared in the coming weeks.

As for the energy needed for revitalizing the First Crystal... Unless anyone has other suggestions, the only energy source large enough still seems to be the Calamity itself. The next logical step in our agenda would be deciding how we go about communicating with it, correct?

Kaji has been silent up until this point. Finally, they're on the one subject he can talk about with some authority. And they have the other people he's been meaning to speak to in this room.

"The Black Crystals were originally formed out of the attempts of four Heroes from last cycle to speak to the Calamity. We know that this resulted in the creation of the Avatars of this cycle," Kaji nods at Ramza, continuing off his earlier point.

"While we have found other uses for the Black Crystals, and so did Palitutu and Artemicion and Kalki, this was their primary function. Whatever the plan is, we're going to need those as focus points."

At this, Kaji looks up at the people from other nations assembled. "We have two of four. One is remaining in the lab to power up people's confrontations with their Calamity Selves. The other is secured separately. And we've been led to believe the other two are in your care. Can we first off confirm who has them? Because I don't think we should actually pool them all together in the same place. But we don't have time for another hunt."

Edited (Shut UP, Kaji) 2017-01-31 17:42 (UTC)

[Twilight let out a small sigh as Mary was told off. It made sense for her to go off - it seemed like whenever they were near someone important, they'd want them to jump hoops.]

You'll have to be a little more patient with us, all of you. After over two years of being ran around, forced through ridiculous tests and being mocked because of what we're trying to do and how we act, some of our patience is very low, especially when it comes to protecting this world.

Indeed. Communicating with such an entity might prove problematic, however.

[ Prajapati tilted her head down and pondered, but Kurma replied to Twilight without hesitating would it be for a second. ]

It is no matter of patience. We are not your enemies nor are we the people who mocked you or put you through trials. All the people in this room are united by a singular purpose and have naught to hide. Treat your allies as you would your enemies, and all you will sow is discord and mistrust. If you believe I would keep secrets from you as the very world I live on is threatened, you are sorely mistaken.

[ With that said he turned to Kaji. ]

One such crystal is in my possession, but no more. All four crystals used to be in the Magitek Research Facility in this city, but Kalki tasked Gibbs and two others to retrieve them. [A pause.] One of them wasn't retrieved and remained with Palitutu. The second one was given to a Black Mage Moogle and I managed to get the third one. Presumably, Kalki kept the fourth one. Trace back how you acquired your black crystals and you might find who was the last owner of the missing crystal.

Edited 2017-02-03 20:44 (UTC)

[Okay, that made sense, but now it's time to ponder out that bit of information]

Okay, one of our Black Crystals we captured from Palitutu - she had used it for her special job and turned it against us. The Black Mage Moogle you mentioned MIGHT be Mograma's, and I believe we got that one...

...which means we need to figure out where Kalki's is.

[Mary takes a long breath, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. When she's done she looks to Kurma, making eye contact as she bows her head.]

You're right. My apologies. You're not the ones who have put us through this strain. It just seems that we are ever at the disadvantage, that the truth is held one step out of reach, and that when we try to chase certain angles we have had the misfortune to more often do ourselves harm than good.

[She straightens up and gestures at the assembled group.]

But you've all worked with us, even when our foes have found ways to manipulate us for our own ends. We owe you much. It's merely frustrating when it's implied we're not holding up our end. We haven't been sitting on our laurels.

[She gives Cid a look, but then another nod and a smile. He's done well by her by deed if not by word. Her outburst is on her. She looks back to the table and thinks.]

I've tried to gather what information I could, but my contacts have found no clue or trace of her. Those of us who were drawn to this world while the others were taking the long road from the past were the last to see her, and it seems all you saw was her sending you off while she clashed with Palitutu, correct?

[But Palitutu isn't in a condition to speak at the moment.]

I wonder if any of our Jobs would allow us to contact her sleeping mind?

[And Twilight's eyes go wide, eyes sparkling as she realizes something]

That's it! The past! Aqures Tosf! I wasn't there for it, but if I remember correctly, everyone who went to the past was stuck in a locked room where the Crystal of Fire was held, right? There was a giant hole that she fell into when some of the other heroes tried to rescue her!

That was the last time any of us saw Kalki. It could be possible that it's still down there!

Kaji frowns so deeply at Kurma's words. "We were under the assumption that the Crystal we got off of Palitutu was the one that had previously been in Kalki's possession. Figured that if Palitutu killed her, she would have taken the Crystal for herself. But if she had one all along?"

Kaji turns back to the other Heroes. "Who went to Kalki's grave site? Gimme, as close as you can, where it's at."

Kaji pulls a black stone out of his pocket. At first glance, it appears to be a black crystal, itself, but this one has retained some shape, and there is no magic coming off of it. "Because we can check right now if it's there."

[Mary's been keeping to the back of any group she's been part of here out of habit. She trusts everyone but she'd still prefer not to have anyone standing behind her if she can help it.

But at Kaji's question she steps up.]

I've been there. I can show you on a map how we got there, best I can.

[But if it's oral directions he needs she'll oblige him to the best of her ability as well.]

I've never been completely convinced she was in that grave though.

Kaji waves off Mary's last statement. "Of course not. I think that was never a question. Going up against Palitutu, I almost doubt that there'd be anything left."

Kaji unrolls a map and gets Mary's help figuring out the direction from where they are. "Okay." He folds his arms and looks to Kurma. "You dont happen to have the crystal on you, do you? The compass is drawn- rather violently, towards the crystals. It should point towards each of the locations. And either it should go to Aqures Tosf, or the Heran Empire."

Shinji, Kaji's moogle, steps forwards, and Kaji hands him the black rose-shaped compass crystal. "Kupo, I really hate this..."

Event || Strategy

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I don't whether to love or hate you all right now.

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