voice/action; un: tacocat

WHO: Raha and you!
WHERE: Libra and also a bonus action option.
WHEN: In the latter half of the month.
WHAT: A catboy wakes up and is confused as hell.
WARNINGS: Possible talk of serious health diagnoses but it will be warned for in subthreads if it happens.

[voice;]

[This silver-tongued stranger speaks with a rich, warm tone—but he also sounds a bit dazed.]

Greetings! My name is Raha Baldesion, and I've only just been released from... ah, call it extended medical leave.

While I grow accustomed to moving around again, if someone could tell me how best to contact POKEGO, I would be grateful. I had been an apprentice before all of the unpleasantness and it might be best if I start there. I could have lingered a while longer in that underground compound—which seemed quite well-built and extensive, truly an impressive feat of engineering—but I thought it best to get some sun after so long.

I shall have to return after exploring the city proper.

[That includes the tower, which he doesn't necessarily want to reveal his connection to. He might not even have a connection. All his stupid blood has gotten him thus far is a bad allergy.]

Ah! Speaking of which, what sights do you all recommend? I will also accept suggestions of the gastronomic variety.

[He has no money, but he'll... figure something out. His body may be weird and creaky now but he has all the fire and entrepreneurial spirit one could ever need. Maybe too much of it, sometimes.]

[action; the crystal tower]

[He has more questions than that, so many more questions, but he prefers to learn some things on his own terms. So he decides to start his new exercise regimen by ascending all several thousand of the Crystal Tower's stairs. Dressed in plain street clothes and a black hoodie, he looks more like he's casing the place than exploring, except that he takes out an old journal every once in a while and scribbles down some notes. Also, hard to ignore the fluffy red cat tail, even if he keeps the hood up. He's very surprised to find that many of the floors have been converted into near-conventional living spaces, but it just makes him take more notes and sometimes he even draws the new additions.

One might also find him struggling against a loose monster, pinned down while a staff made of light remains the only thing keeping its blade from slicing into (mostly) tender catboy.]

I... shall not... yield!

[This sounds so dramatic and the enemy is just one armored beast with a giant sword. He feels so lame.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Maxima knows that voice from somewhere, but it takes him a little bit to remember where. G'raha Tia was a new addition to the Scions sometime between when he'd first met them and their journey to the heart of the Empire, and he hadn't really fully understood the young man's credentials or where he'd come from, aside from obviously being an archon like the others.

Still, that much knowledge is enough to lend itself to a suggestion. The smile in his voice is audible.]

If it's restaurants you're looking for, I might recommend a visit to The Last Stand. Although I can't vouch for it myself, never having made the time to travel as far as Sharlayan, I hear it's quite an accurate recreation.

[It isn't the first time this has happened, and Rose is pretty sure it won't be the last.]

[Still, she knows what to do. She won't operate under any assumptions that G'raha--no, Raha--will recognize her. Instead, she's just going to try to help her friend because he deserves that.]

POKEGO should be able to see this message, I believe.

As for the underground compound you just left, that's as good a place to start in this town as any. The man in charge of it, Duke Wriothesley, is very kind, and he is willing to house those with nowhere else to go.

Have you been to any of the spirit realms? They're lovely this time of year. Or any time of year, really.

[And then, after a beat:]

I'm Rose, by the way.

[Why is Randy in the Crystal Tower? Who can say.]

[Maybe it's because he's bored. Maybe it's because he forgot something. Maybe it's because he's still really uncomfortable with what went down several months ago, and this is how he deals with it.]

[Whatever the reason, it's lucky that he is. Raha will feel the pressure on him ease off instantly as the monster is cleaved from the side. After the monster is gone, Randy will lean down and offer Raha a hand.]

Hey, didn't anyone tell you this place's dangerous?

[Catboy, meet Randy Orlando: Living embodiment of the question "What if Thancred was worse, and also had red hair?"]

I fear I'd forgotten such a wonderful refuge existed until you mentioned it. [The way he speaks about it, though...]

Could you be... Ser Maxima? [... Well. He hadn't expected to run into people he would remember. From a past life, that is, and not this one. This has suddenly gotten very interesting, and perhaps a touch inconvenient later.]

I hope you'll forgive me if I've remembered incorrectly. My mind and memories are still in disarray.

[Ever since what happened in February, Takame's patrols of the Crystal Tower have been more frequent and more aggressive. Anything that triggered his sense for danger... or perhaps his sense of his territory being interfered with would be met with swift retribution. They will not have another incident like that... never again.

It was during one such patrol that Takame saw someone struggling. Something about the man's presence, his magical presence specifically, called Takame's overprotective instinct to activate. Or maybe it was this new person being cheesy like someone he... knows... knew...

Regardless, he advanced.]

Stand strong-!

[The only warning that was given as the armored beast was felled in one swift, fiery strike by Takame. He'd destroyed enough of these bitches to one-shot them.]

Ah...

[Then his suspicion is confirmed seeing just who was guarding against it.]

... G'raha... Tia...?

[At first there's just a tickling of something familiar, and then something more nagging, and then he can't ignore it at all.

She rattles off all of the answers he could want so nonchalantly, but the woman he remembers is only nonchalant in the face of danger. Of course, trying to focus on her face only makes his head hurt more, because he can remember other faces, too, but he doesn't... share that.

How many reflections—how many times has he played this role for the return of his hero?]

There is no need to play the generous stranger. I... remember, [he says haltingly.] At least, I remember enough to know that I've done it myself.

[The wild goose chase, saying goodbye and the doors closing behind him, stretching out his hand across eons, talking by the steep cliffs overlooking the rest of Kholusia, fighting death itself, another silly adventure or two, saying goodbye again, shielding innocents from the end of the world, saying goodbye yet again, and many more images flash through his mind, unbidden.] This... wasn't quite the adventure I had in mind when I asked to journey alongside you... but fate, it seemed, had other plans.

Are you... [Certainly she remembers, right?] How are you?

[She tells herself that she's okay with it, no matter what. But when he says that he recognizes her...]

[Something lifts inside her. It's nice, to have a friend that she never expected to see again here. To have him remember her. It's small, but it's nice.]

I suppose you've caught me, then. It seems I can't keep up the act.

[She smiles.]

It's good to you again. I'm--[getting over having a parasitic rock stuck to my hand]--good. Better than I have been at least.

Here, I'll tell you what--why don't you come over? I can make you a nice cup of tea.

[Sweet relief. He is... very small, as it turns out. The kind of man where when he stands up you notice he doesn't get any taller. At least Randy's life is full of short kings.]

You have my thanks, friend! [He does a little bow, and then goes back to leaning on his staff. Randy might notice that one hand is blue crystal, just barely visible under the baggy sleeves.] I overestimated my own abilities. I can feel my magic, and remember my magic, but accessing it is... another matter entirely.

As for this tower, I am quite familiar with its reputation. It hails from my previous life. The monsters, as far as I am aware, have always been a problem. [A little cheekily, perhaps:] It's why people weren't inclined to live inside of it.

My name is Raha. And who might my savior be today?

[As per usual, he is surprised by the strength demonstrated so effortlessly by those of the Warrior of Light persuasion. There is no doubting that the sight of that familiar strong frame and shoulders, like they could bear the weight of multiple worlds, gives him a bit of a headache. Yet he can't look away, could never look away. He feels something like admiration swell in his chest, even though it's followed by an echo of grief and guilt.

He'll have to learn how to process those feelings all over again, but right after a several-year-long cryosleep probably isn't it.

Yet Takame says his name then, and even though it isn't the name he bore in this life, he clearly responds. The ears perk beneath his hood, the tail swishes around, and his scarlet eyes grow wide. The mage lowers his staff, then, and focuses on using it to help support himself as he gets up.

One hand is disturbingly blue. Familiar.]

It has been so very long since I heard that name. [He dusts himself off, adjusts his clothes, tries to ignore the feeling of tears (why?) prickling at the edges of his eyes.] I suppose I must have lived many lives upon this earth, experiencing my share of joy and wonder and sorrow... A-and yet, in this life, I always felt that something was missing. When I began to remember that particular past life, I wondered if perhaps I might have found it.

[A pause.] Look at me, rambling on and on when I ought to be thanking you. [He smiles beneath the hood, which doesn't do much to hide the crystal lapping at his jawline. It seems some history is doomed to repeat itself.] You have my utmost gratitude for your most timely intervention, Takame.

I must warn you that my memories are not entirely... sorted, as I've just woken up from a long sleep. But, perhaps we can speak about things on the way back down?

voice/action; un: tacocat

voice; un: neoteric

voice | UN: Thorn | let me know if this doesn't work!

action | crystal tower

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