Week 6 cyoa: hei, jiuqing, vin, and kashuu

[saturations]

spoiler warnings: ff14 heavensward and some light endwalker elements
content warnings: violence, death, war, terrorism (short), brief mentions/references for eyegore, brief mention/reference for decapitation, depression, suicidal ideation (nihilist flavor), suicide, dragons and monsters eating people

Comments

[slashay]

[FIGHT HIM ABOUT HIS NAME BINCH IT'S PRETTIER THAN AYMERIC.]

More or less. [Though he wishes it could... Damn... He wants to be free of battles that aren't even his to fight hello. Anyway he'll glance over toward Vin at that since there's a potential party-splitting option here and he's not sure if he likes it.]

What would the fortifications need?

[allomantic]

[glancing towards him! and unsurprisingly, she's mouthing you stay here at him. splitting up definitely wouldn't be her preference, but if it does come down to that, she's here to be stubborn and hypocritical. it's fine. continue with your discussion.]

[slashay]

[HIS EYES NARROW AND HE IS ABOUT TO THROW DOWN except then Aymeric's talking about a whole horde coming to them, so both of them are going to get rekt, probably.]

[allomantic]

[dammit

but anyways, after a little bit (by which i mean feel free to ignore this until he gets more info) she's addressing him.]

...What do you think we should do?

[slashay]

[i assume they've moved away from Aymeric somewhat so they can chat without just discussing him right in front of his salad but:]

Well... He's saying Ishgard'll be okay, so Vax'll be fine, yeah? And it seems like he wants to get this done and over ASAP. Maybe the sooner we fight that dragon, the sooner we can leave, too.

[allomantic]

That's what he's saying, but... Don't these things have a way of being unpredictable?

[not that she wants to split up, but she also doesn't want to leave behind their definitely real vax. that being said, dragging him along on their dragon adventure also seems bad. hmmm. after another moment of thought:]

...I think you are right.

[even though she's stressed!!]

[slashay]

[HE'S ALSO STRESSED. THEIR VERY REAL VAX, AND ALSO THEIR AYMERIC THAT MIGHT BE REAL, TOO??? HE'S SWEATING.]

Mm... Yeah, they do. [But he's also thinking along the same lines of "taking an injured man out to battle a really strong dragon probably isn't a good idea". Anyway he's all for just attacking this bigass dragon but fIRST:]

--D'you think that's Aymeric...?

[allomantic]

If it wasn't, he wouldn't have called you that, right...? I've heard of strange things happening to memories in these places. Maybe he has forgotten temporarily.

[wild......]

Should we really leave him here?

[slashay]

[Well now that he's like semi-convinced Aymeric is their missing fourth member:]

If he's really Ayme, then leaving him here might be a bad idea... But if he thinks he's the commander whatever-it's-called for real right now, then we probably won't just be able to talk him into going wherever with us.

[LISTEN he knows Aymeric is really the Lord Commander in real life but NOT LIKE THIS!! IN THEIR FAKE CYOA!!]

Sounds like they're gonna be sticking behind to deal with the horde...

[allomantic]

Maybe that means he and Vax will be able to help each other...?

[THEIR DEFINITELY REAL CYOA PARTNERS i hate it here]

If that's the case, I guess we should go deal with the dragon, but...

[slashay]

If that guy's super injured, it's gonna be a problem, but... I mean.

[THEIR DEFINITELY REAL CYOA PARTNERS!! HE'S TIRED. He just sighs.]

--I'll... yeah. I trust that they've got what they need here to hold back whatever shows up. Let's just beat that other guy and get everyone out. We can deal with Ayme's weird memory stuff later.

[disestablishment]

[ No, it's okay. He isn't going to put too much stock on Weird Familiar Feelings. ]

Our Astrologians have been reading the aether of Dragonstar... And they believe a horde will be coming to the Steps of Faith, the sole stone bridge that allows anyone into Ishgard.

[ Falcon's Nest is a village owned and protected by Ishgard, with the tundra covering the highlands, they seldom leave the post. ]

[slashay]

[DON'T PSYCHE THEM OUT... Anyway, with a frown:]

...So. Basically, we gotta protect that bridge at all costs then, huh? How big's this horde supposed to be, do they know?

[disestablishment]

Large, it would seem, but we are prepared for the assault. You see, Ishgard is protected by a barrier and it should last us enough to rid ourselves of the dragons.

[ Frowning. ]

However, the respite between waves have shortened, thus our barrier needs mending. [ Thinks some more. ] We are prepared for the assault, nevertheless. Our dragon-killing arsenal is here, after all.

[ There sure is a bunch of armored footsteps they can hear outside! The knights are preparing. ]

[slashay]

[He just nods as he listens to that all, putting together the picture of this place in his head.]

Okay. So it's the barrier that's the main focus right now, then, here?

[disestablishment]

Aye, either helping with the mend, or fending off the dragons.

I can assure you that Ishgard will be safe.

[slashay]

...If you say so. [...] Can you make sure someone checks on Izuminokami, too? He's not doing well.

[It's fine though, probably.]

[disestablishment]

[ whomst the shit... ]

We plan to protect and support all those who take refuge in Ishgard. Fret not, Shushu.

[slashay]

[HELP HIS SWEET KANESAN WHO SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE. But...]

--Huh?

[HIS NICKNAME??? He's squinting at this Aymeric that he still is pretty sure is a fake Aymeric but that's thrown him off a little.]

[disestablishment]

[ he realizes... how he addressed him... and he's just dead awkward silent.

Uh. ]

Pardon, I do not know what possessed me, Ser Kashuu.

[slashay]

[HE DOESN'T LIKE THIS HE DOESN'T LIKE THIS HELP. HELP!!! He glances over toward Vin briefly, but after a second of hesitation:]

Hey, um... This is gonna sound weird, but, like. Are you sure we've never met before?

[disestablishment]

[ Oh, Aymeric doesn't like this question and he tries to school his expression, but it's pensive. Confused. Not so much confused at Kashuu, but with himself. ]

... I would say we haven't, but somehow I feel that is incorrect.

[slashay]

[NO ONE HERE LIKES THIS QUESTION. Kashuu doesn't like this answer, either. He's sweaty.]

...Yeah. I kinda had the same feeling. Um. Maybe we've met somewhere else...?

[disestablishment]

[ He's DESPERATELY thinking right now. ]

Pray tell where?

[slashay]

[KASHUU'S SWEATING INCREASES AS HE TRIES TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO GO FOR IT but they'll never know if they don't ask right.]

The... the prism, maybe...?