[letter to all Heroes + action]

[red_planet_blues]

[A letter delivered to all Heroes of Light:]

Seems like just about everyone recognized someone in crystal status when the new guys were brought in the other day. Even some of you new guys did. As someone who's been here since this whole mess started, I can tell you that this is the first time that that's happened. Same with your violent arrival.

I never much liked this whole deal, and I'm liking it less and less every day. Some used to think that the Crystal of Fire was just sort of doing this and no one knew why. If you ask me, this past week's been a big clue pointing to someone being behind this. Not only that, but all that weird doppleganger stuff, like the ones we've found in the Magitek complex or around town only make everything even weirder. Someone out there sure knows a lot about my home planet, at least, and now we know they know plenty about the rest of yours, too.

Whatever this is all about, it's got something to do with that Lady Kalki and the Emperor. That's about all I got out of those dang spies when I saw them in Trano Golsaucia last month. You know what I miss? When I had an entire planet as my jurisdiction, not just one city. Otherwise they'd all be sitting in jail right now.

What I'm trying to say is that we can't just sit around and hope all this stuff just starts making sense sometime soon. It ain't. We need to do it without waiting for anyone to slid in and solve these problems. First things first: find Kalki. That means heading into the Empire somehow. And that means a whole mess of danger.

So who's interested?

- Sparks Nevada
Marshal on Mars
Captain, Aqures Ixen Police
and one ornery Hero of Light

---

[B: action/moogle

When the Heroes had been told they could once again bring items from home by Jessie, what Sparks had asked for was his Marshal Station. Asking for a small, rocket-powered, AI-equipped building is a bit of a tall order, and when too many days pass with no word from Jessie, Sparks figures it for a loss.

However, his moogle Red gets word that there's a delivery for her charge today, surprised to find a book had been brought for him instead. And what a book! Titled, "We're From Earth: A Tale of Star-Crossing Lovers", the book is apparently about the marshal himself and written by his ex-girlfriend, the famous writer Rebecca Rose Rushmore. Sparks is more of someone who will talk about his past exploits than anything personal, despite Red's attempts. A sucker for juicy gossip, Red's hit the jackpot.

She does give an honest try in not reading it, since it's his mail and not hers, but she can't resist. After all, what will one little peek hurt? Just a page or two! Naturally, she gets completely sucked in. The book is full of all kinds of sordid details she wasn't expecting, and Sparks comes off as a total jerk. Instead of flying directly to Sparks's house, she can be found reading the book while ambling her way there, her face glued to the pages.]

No way! [She gasps quietly.] Sparks, how could you, kupo...!

[Seems she's so enraptured that she's not looking where she's going or how low she's flying, and she smacks right into you, book falling cover-up at your feet. She squeals in horror to not only have done that, but to be caught red-handed.]


[[ooc - If you want to answer both prompts, go for it, but it might be easier to do it in separate tags.]]

Comments

[nankurunaisa]

[For what little it's worth, Hibiki considers the book in her hand to be on about the same level as a tabloid magazine. She's been the victim of those before; her friends have gotten it worse.

But there's his voice cracking, and everything falls into the place. So much for a serious talk.]

E-eh?! [She stands up.] You can't be serious! This is all true! Red dropped it while she was flying around, but...I thought it was some kinda joke!

[zodiac_brave]

Captain Nevada,

I beg you let me join you. I would see those who would use our loved ones as pawns brought to justice.

-Ramza [there's a scribble where he started to write a family name, but thought better of it.]

B

[istotesbatgirl]

Spark's moogle crashes right into Misfit's shin. Oddly enough she's gotten used to this happening and assumes it's a moogle.

"Hey, don;t you work with Sparks? What have you got there?"

Letter

[shinrasfinest]

[This comes the next morning; someone is already back in Esdham it seems.]

Marshal,

I would urge the utmost caution in whatever expedition you decide to undertake. The Empire are not a force to be trifled with, without first taking into dire consideration their arsenal -which we know hardly anything of- when compared to anything Aqures Ixen might be able to retaliate, or even defend itself, with.

Aqures sits rather languidly behind the veritable wall that Esdham is holding back from advancing and I would advise against poking the dragon. Besides, how do you know those spies weren't feeding you in order to get this exact reaction?

Tread carefully with this, Sparks Navada. I do not give advise lightly.

~Sephiroth

[line_piece]

Okay. Just let me know, then. I haven't been here for long, but I want to do everything I can to help stop the Empire from doing any more harm.

[greenmagick]

Marshal,

I can meet you in person if you wish. I am not from this world. I only just arrived but there is an Empire in my world and I know some about it. I don't know if they are related. I don't know how helpful that I will be though.

I'm afraid that I have lost parts of my memory when I woke up here.

Terra,

[goddessofthesky]

Dear Sparks,

Thank you. Please let me know if you need anything else.

~Zelda

[red_planet_blues]

Reckon I never said I planned to kick the door in and announce myself. I understand they ain't exactly a bunch of daisy-pickers, but the longer we sit around and wait, the more dirt they get on us.

I ain't too fond of being anyone's pawn. I'm sure you're not, neither.

--SN

[red_planet_blues]

"Ah! Oops, um, sorry! I, uh..."

Red quickly scoops the book and tries to cover it up by hugging it with her arms. But it's a person-sized book, not a moogle one, so she can't quite cover the whole thing. Part of the title and Sparks's picture on the cover poke out from between her arms.

She gives Misfit a nervous laugh. "Ahaha, it's nothing! Just a book. I really shouldn't be reading while flying..."

[red_planet_blues]

Reckon a lot of folks are going to feel the same way. We should schedule a meeting at the observatory for all the Heroes so we can formulate a plan on this. We sure got a lot to go over and research to do.

--SN

A little bit of both

[theredplainsrider]

[Even though they live in the same house, Red got the letter from Rawa that was from Sparks. She smiled a little bit. Being Marshall on Mars was good for him. He was able to do what he needed to do to protect everyone.

She didn't bother writing him a reply. They did live together, even if she often went out on her own. Instead she headed out to the shared room of the house to see Red reading a rather familiar book. She looked at the moogle that shared part of her name and shook her head a bit.]

Ya know, that book ain't all it's cracked up ta be.

[red_planet_blues]

[While he reads it over, Red's horror fades into interest as she watches Ales's reaction. Having someone to talk about it is way better. She dissolves into devious giggles.]

I know! Can you believe it, kupo? It's so awful! I have no idea why this book showed up here. I'm pretty sure Sparks didn't ask for it.

[red_planet_blues]

[The book makes Sparks out to be a hero at first, telling the tale of how the author, Rebecca, traveled to Mars to tag along with him as inspiration for her novels and how it eventually lead to their relationship. But it quickly devolves to show how overly devoted to his work he was, and never had an off switch and wanted to work more than be with her. The phrase "emotional unavailability" is used a lot.

In the end, he looks rather cold and pathetic. But the whole thing is very detailed. Downright R-rated in places. Gross

If this was Mars, seeing the book wouldn't surprise Sparks at all. It still reared its ugly head from time to time there. But on Crystallis? Was this someone's idea of a bad joke? Was Rebecca here?!]

Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't say that. I did not say any of that. That thing is-- Red had it? Red the moogle had it. Why did she-- How did she-- Y'know what. Gimme that. Hand it over.

[nankurunaisa]

[She hasn't gotten to the R-rated places yet because she's an angel and because she's been skipping around. Instead of handing it over, though, she crosses her arms. The way she's holding the book makes it easy for the chapter title to be shown, and...it's definitely one of the R-rated chapters.]

I'll hand it over to ya, no problem, but I have some questions for ya, too. [She has a feeling he's going to run after Red if she hands it over, so she doesn't.] Can we talk for a sec first? It's important.

Re: it's okay

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie felt her cheeks turn bright red as she skimmed through the pages, easily holding the two moogles at bay.

"No way!" Her voice was loud while she began walking with the book. If Sparks saw her she was sure to get an earful but that didn't really matter. The details were.. way to much but she hoped to at least find a good nickname from the book. Something that was innocent enough to get by but annoying enough to get under his skin. Picking out these nicknames was an art to the young princess and she took it more seriously than someone probably should.

Pet names were always a good place to go and since they were names that already stuck to someone it was easier to keep it up.

"I can't believe this.. This is REALLY bad and Sparks calls me bad?" Yuffie took matters of the heart very seriously.

[umslay]

[Was he crying? Now, definitely not, he's just wiping his eyes because they hurt. From laughing.]

Wasn't there someone else from his world? Maybe she asked for that to get a good laugh! [And it worked.]

That was honestly the saddest way to end things with your girlfriend I have ever heard. I'd wager things weren't going so well even before then. [He opens the book to an earlier page.] How about we look at another page together?

[red_planet_blues]

They could always hit stuff harder. Can't go wrong with that.

Don't know who else around here who's the book-type, so whoever wants to help is fine. I'll see who I can rustle up.

--SN

[red_planet_blues]

First things first is a plan. We also need to know what the Empire is like. As much as I'd like to just run in there and start punching the bad guys, we're outnumbered. So we need to hit the books.

--SN

[red_planet_blues]

Seriously? Whatever happened with the folks got brought in this time is totally messed up. I wonder if anyone else's got that problem too.

Lots of worlds got empires. What makes this one similar to yours?

--SN

[red_planet_blues]

Sadly there's no pet names mentioned, but hopefully all the dirt on Sparks makes up for it. The book does start out making Sparks look heroic and exciting in his adventures on Mars. But, it eventually makes Sparks out to be the bad guy, cold and distant, overly dedicated to his job to the point where he loses interest in anything else, Rebecca included. And it's not the first time this has happened with a girlfriend. Or even the second.

This probably isn't news to Yuffie, knowing what she knows about him.

Red bites her lip, looking embarrassed and excited all at once. "Right? I shouldn't be surprised, kupo. But it's so terrible! How could he treat her like that, kupo?"

[red_planet_blues]

[Sparks spies that chapter title and visibly droops. He makes a grab for the book.]

Oh God. Just-- give it. Dangit, where did Red get this?

What questions. If it's about what's in here, forget it.

[istotesbatgirl]

"What is it? I want to see."

Misfit's immaturity takes hold of her and she grabs the book out of Red's hands and starts looking at it.

"It's just a romance book. Wait a minute is this about Sparks?"

[red_planet_blues]

Yeah, the Red Plains Rider! But Jessie said this had come in for Sparks, kupo. He'd asked for something else and I think this showed up instead. Talk about bad luck, kupo!

[Red looks around, wringing her hands a bit. She doesn't want to get caught with this. She wondered if Sparks even knew something like this existed. Either way, he wouldn't be happy about it. But, after a moment, she nods.

There was no sign of the marshal, though. Not yet, anyway. He was working, so chances were good he was busy somewhere else.]

Sure! I was only about halfway through it, kupo.

[greenmagick]

Marshal,

I suppose I can't know for sure. Tempest has told me some of their technology and armor, it sounds the same but unless I see it I cannot know.

Terra

[thegreatninja]

"I think he needs a lesson in love." She gave Red and evil grin. "Isn't there someone here he likes? Maybe we should do some melding?"

Yuffie, as much as she didn't like Sparks, she also didn't really hate him. He was just fun to tease, though he might relax some if he had a girl friend.