[The cold emanates from his sword. From him. Frost threatens to creep over the blade pressed against his own. He leans forward with inhuman strength then abruptly leaps back, sliding back.
He leaps straight up and races up a panel of ice, leaping to the next one. Power builds in the panels facing Takame on the left side.
He can't think. There's only the need to fight to survive. To defend himself so he can make it home. Home.
He spins like a beautiful glimmering shard of ice. Jerking his hand up on the right. Freezing cold wind and ice howls out of the left panels, cleaving the space over the stage leaving only the right half safe as Kaeya racing up the right side.
The panels are arranged with good ricochet or climbing skills one can follow.]
[For all the strength Takame possessed, keeping Kaeya at bay drunk with power as he was proved to be difficult. The fact that he could at all spoke volumes of his own, but had Kaeya not lept away Takame may not have lasted.
He swiped his sword again, trying but not expecting to nick Kaeya in his wide leap. Heat from the cartridges of his weapon prevented frost from taking hold onto it and from his opponent did he draw more power to reignite them.
He saw the aether building, despite the right hand being risen energy built on the left end. Before it could blast that side, Takame strafed right building speed along the ice and launched ahead again, this time jumping onto the side of the panel and driving his sword into it and climbing the rest of the way.
He pushed the offensive, charged and blade surging. A circle of light and levin aether pulsed in a massive circle around him far enough to reach Kaeya. Try to weaken him, he thought... the battle high has yet to intoxicate him.]
[He perches on top of the right panels and flips the blade just before Takame catches him. The electro energy pulses and he gasps, falling from the panels as sparks of electric arc over him. It seems electric energy doesn't get along with him.
He hits the stage on his stomach as fragments of memory drift up. A ruin guard looming. A glorious city he calls home. His father speaking words that would cause him so much turmoil. He presses his face to the stage and forces himself up with both hands. He turns onto his back and breathes in. The icy energy dissipates.
The chill in the returns to what it was before he changed and Kaeya twists his fingers. His patch is slid across the ice before all the panels and ice on the stage vanishes. He pulls it on and lays there a little longer, his unbound hair spilled across the stone stage like a burst of color in winter's long darkness.]
Thanks. Forgot myself for a moment there. [The words in the air fade as he sits up and plants a sword of ice into the stone. He uses it to pull himself up. Even the fur on his ears and tail have taken on the gradient. The later shifts to give him better balance.]
We can leave. Or you can take swings at me again. I'm fine with either. Sounds like a good time. [He twitches as the lightning arcs over his back down to his tail. He leans all his weight on the blade. His hair falls over his face like a long curtain as he breathes.] On second thought, let's sit here until this wears off.
I'm not into pain. [Another zap and his ears flick as his tail jerks in agitation.]
[It was a shot in the dark. Takame didn't even think about what elemental reaction his Bow Shock would cause, he just wanted to attack.
When Kaeya fell flat on the stage, Takame kept his stance with his weapon pointed straight at him. He didn't trust this to not be a ruse, something to make him let his guard down. It was with teeth bared and clenched that he approached the Miqo'te warily.
Hearing his voice sounding comparatively normal and the runes fade from the sky his expression shifted from violent to cautious. It wasn't until several long moments after Kaeya pulled himself up that Takame lowered his weapon. Lowered, not sheathed.
Standing right next to Kaeya, the power still surged in him. When a primal was unleashed, the energy dispersed and in some cases, the vessel fell. But not here, hence his apprehension.
It's his reaction to the spark that had Takame relax his stance. He had advantage.]
... Noted, I suppose. [He almost sounded resigned, finally putting his weapon away and crossing his arms.] Tell me. What in the kami's name was that?
[He lowers his ears. Putting it as he became a god would be the absolute worse way to put it. He has to approach this from a point to drive home the difference between a Primal and an Ascended Vision User.]
I don't entirely understand the process of ascension. Supposedly when one is taken to Celestia...this happens. Having undergone this process I think we evolve.
Not everything in our world that evolves is human or humans stay as they were. The Falcon of the West was a human woman in her mortal life. Why this is and why Celestia controls the process, [He sits down as another spark makes him twitch. Damn it. This is annoying. Technically he could fight on through it but he doesn't have the desire to fight right now.] I don't know.
But what you explained about a primal and about what just happened? Do you feel excess Cryo energy here?
[It's all gone. There's only the low-grade cryo energy of Coetheras.] But I am not an Archon. There must be something else involved with that. I bet it has something to do with Celestia and the Archon War. Nothing that helps us right now.
[Evolve, he says. A human ascending to become a god was so wrong. To be human was to be free. Flawed and fumbling but free to feel and live, was it not? So Takame once heard from someone more human than him.
What reason could this Celestia have to steal that from people? To have more thralls to enact their will unquestioned?
His tail flicked and a shiver went down his spine. He brushed it off as the cold setting in, hiding the brief image of the Mothercrystal in his mind far away. While he looked calm on the surface his tail kept twitching and he dropped his arms, clenching one fist behind his leg even as he spoke.]
The energy is as it once was. You seem to have taken it into yourself. [A pause.] You are fortunate to have only lost yourself for a moment. I would rather not have had to kill you if we knew we would learn nothing.
[Takame sat down as well, breathing deep of the cold air through his nose, exhaling slowly through his mouth where a cloud followed.] ... Forgive me. I mustn't say such things. [He's quiet again as he racked his brain to try and come up with something more... optimistic to day. What would Hina do...]
... 'Tis better the energy lies within you than within the Abyss Order.
[He lays down on his side. Kaeya glances around. The chamber looks like the old ruins back home. He did this. A spark hits him again and he grits his teeth against it.]
There's nothing wrong with saying the unspoken out loud. I expected you to kill me if I was too big of a threat. I'd have killed you if it were the reverse. [His ears twitch and he reaches down, petting his own tail. It's soothing.]
...when I was lost I was focused on survival. My duty to return home. [His left ear pops up and swivels as he listens for a moment. Nothing coming.] We've learned a great deal in one really foolish plan. I'd say mission accomplished. I'll be able to break it all down after we get out of here.
[There's an audible thump of his tail against the stage. Kaeya was bold to assume he could... only the kami knew what sort of monster he would become if he had enough power.
He came close once. The scar of the experience remained in how his scales bleached closer to his neck. He didn't respond to the scenario with anything but a low hum, almost a growl. And another tail thump. He shook his head.]
Instinct. [Ever the fallback when pushed against the corner. Despite Kaeya's encouragement of honesty, he still kept it to himself.] I'll see to it that you return. This I swear.
[Focus work now, and his emotion later. When there was time... for now perhaps he ought to actually acknowledge that shock effect.] Ah, the shocks will fade after a while. We shall depart at your command.
[He curls up on his side as his fingers drag through the fur. Already he can feel each spark is weaker than the last.] Hopefully to a bar or a tavern. I haven't had good wine since I got to this world.
[Kaeya presses his cheek to the cold stone and his ears twitch. A thought occurs to him and he frowns. He curses and presses his face to the stone.]
Wait, can I even get drunk anymore?! [Venti could. Maybe...]
[Well. The sad sight before Takame was a good diversion from his racing mind. He had no words to prove or disprove whether Kaeya in his "ascended" state could get drunk but if he couldn't... well that was bollocks wasn't it?
Maybe not the best idea, but there were ways to ensure privacy in the place he had in mind. And... a drink couldn't hurt, right?]
... I know of a good tavern in Ishgard. I'm well known there.
[He lifts his head up off the stone and both ears pop up. Kaeya sits up. One more twitch and his pupil widens.]
Go on. [His tail bushes up and swishes but, it's not in agitation. A smile is stealing itself across his face. It would be a return to what he knows and that's something. Something good.]
I can walk. [Kaeya says but he accepts the hand up. He reaches back to gather his hair together, letting it spill back over his shoulder again.]
But I plan to be unable to by the night's end. [He's going to get utterly, stinking drunk. There's no work to worry about (other than work he puts on himself) and no one to give him looks for being tanked to the gills.
Other than Takame. Oh well, sorry new technically co-worker.]
[Contact with the alliance always had to be done through messengers, they were a busy lot and couldn't be expected to meet with the Warrior of Light at any time. And he wasn't fully aware of the situation in the other cities either, given the Towers and now the Abyss Order making a mess of things.
Regardless, Takame was a man of his word. Once contact was established, he led Kaeya into Ishgard, seeing to it that both their birds were tended to before making his way to the Forgotten Knight.
A quick greeting to the proprietor he requested that some subtle arrangements be made to ensure privacy. After some words exchanged muffled under the volume of general (likely drunk) conversation, he bowed in thanks then took his seat at one of the tables in the far back gesturing for Kaeya to follow.]
[A lazy, relaxed smile spreads across Kaeya's face. He presses a hand to his chest and bows his head.] You're too kind.
[He drapes his tail around the back of his chair. He gets a few wines just to try them. They're not bad. But he finds a nice chill red he polishes off several bottles without feeling even slightly tipsy.]
[Kaeya seemed the sort to enjoy the finer things in life. In heavy supply at once. But Takame made the offer and he would stand by it.
For Takame's part, he sampled one of the wines that was the most recently opened but only took the occasional sip. One of them needed to be lucid and in honesty he preferred wine or something stronger served in a shot over Eorzean ale.
Seeing Kaeya go through a few bottles and noting that none of his inhibitions were lowered... well either he had a better poker face than Takame or this ascension was worse than Takame imagined.]
Even Barbatos can get drunk! Maybe there’s a threshold? [He grumbles as he sips his wine. It’s bottle four and he hasn’t seen the end of this tolerance yet.
But by the end of the sixth bottle he tucks himself closer to Takame, his tail lazily swaying as he holds the bottle in one hand. His head is bowed but his ears are still upright.]
Oh, there it is. [He says with a slight slur and his left ear twitches several times.]
[There's a soft hum in lieu of a "Maybe". There were legends of kami drinking the finest sake but no specification on whether they could get drunk off of it. But he didn't know much about said legends either.
He ought to ask his mother some time, he thought idly as he noticed the increasing worry and aggravation of the proprietor and servers respectively. It's with a small shrug of his shoulders and shake of his head that Takame tried to ease their concerns. He certainly owed some kind of explanation later.
Where Kaeya was on bottle six, Takame barely finished with his second glass when the Miqo'te scooched in close to him. He didn't shy away, but didn't lean into it. And he definitely took note of the slur.]
Mmhmm, [He drags the words out in a smooth almost sing song tone. His tail brazenly brushes against Takame then settles. He lets go of the bottle and grabs his own tail.
Nope. This isn’t someone he knows super well. If it were Lisa he’d just lay his tail across her lap. She’d pet it as if it was just a thing they did every day.]
Found it. You should tell the nice worried people, I’m fine. My tolerance is just very high and I’m no danger to myself.
[There’s a pause as his tail curls around his own hand.] Mm, it’s warmer here. None of that low grade Cryo energy in the city. Nice to rest.
Ah, of course... [That's what they all say, Kaeya. He wouldn't believe it if he didn't see the man gain an influx of power right before his eyes.
But maybe he didn't have the right. The delays in his sips only allowed the alcohol to sink in deeper, and finishing off the second glass finally he did one more swift head shake and his vision blurred afterwards.
Perhaps he should have gotten something to eat before drinking. When he felt Kaeya's tail drift over his, his own tail hovered briefly over Kaeya's in response. It drooped some after he pulled it back.]
Mm. The Forgotten Knight is kept warm enough. [Takame wasn't slurring, but he was letting a few more words slip. Opinions.] It is still far too cold.
[Kaeya nods, cracking open a seventh bottle and pouring more for himself. He takes his cup and swirls the contents. Like someone very, very used to wine and how to open it. He takes a sip.]
It’s the ambient magic. Whatever happened to this region...when we crossed into it I felt the energy blanketing everything. It would be green without it.
Closer to Mondstadt’s temperatures, maybe? [He gestures loosely,] caused me so much pressure and pain. On the other side of it I’m just...aware.
In centuries time, this blanket will just be part of the energy of the land. Mm, but that’s just a theory. [He leans into Takame with a hum as he lets go of his tail.]
I don’t want to think too much. Been thinking without end for months. Usual vices were out.
[Vaguely tipsy or not, Takame listened carefully to Kaeya as he poured another cup for himself as well.]
A product of the Calamity. I hail from Doma and did not come to Eorzea until five years after it happened, but along my travels and the word of the people here I did learn that Coerthas was indeed once a verdant land. I've only ever known it to be cold. [He took a sip, the more he spoke a faint slur could be heard. And his tail wandered, looking for something to touch.]
Ah, my knowledge of aether is rather limited however.
[Without his hands on it, his tail brushes Takame’s. He doesn’t seem to be paying attention to it. His mind is on what he’s heard.
At his heart, Kaeya is a strategist.]
I’m not the knight with a study in it. But she always told me that there is...depth to magic. There are layers we see and feel and then those deeper, beyond them. Again not my field. Give me men and a strategy and I can chart a path.
But I think I see what she means now. It’s like I was deaf and blind before. Eddies and currents. A storm that only some can see.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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He leaps straight up and races up a panel of ice, leaping to the next one. Power builds in the panels facing Takame on the left side.
He can't think. There's only the need to fight to survive. To defend himself so he can make it home. Home.
He spins like a beautiful glimmering shard of ice. Jerking his hand up on the right. Freezing cold wind and ice howls out of the left panels, cleaving the space over the stage leaving only the right half safe as Kaeya racing up the right side.
The panels are arranged with good ricochet or climbing skills one can follow.]
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He swiped his sword again, trying but not expecting to nick Kaeya in his wide leap. Heat from the cartridges of his weapon prevented frost from taking hold onto it and from his opponent did he draw more power to reignite them.
He saw the aether building, despite the right hand being risen energy built on the left end. Before it could blast that side, Takame strafed right building speed along the ice and launched ahead again, this time jumping onto the side of the panel and driving his sword into it and climbing the rest of the way.
He pushed the offensive, charged and blade surging. A circle of light and levin aether pulsed in a massive circle around him far enough to reach Kaeya. Try to weaken him, he thought... the battle high has yet to intoxicate him.]
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He hits the stage on his stomach as fragments of memory drift up. A ruin guard looming. A glorious city he calls home. His father speaking words that would cause him so much turmoil. He presses his face to the stage and forces himself up with both hands. He turns onto his back and breathes in. The icy energy dissipates.
The chill in the returns to what it was before he changed and Kaeya twists his fingers. His patch is slid across the ice before all the panels and ice on the stage vanishes. He pulls it on and lays there a little longer, his unbound hair spilled across the stone stage like a burst of color in winter's long darkness.]
Thanks. Forgot myself for a moment there. [The words in the air fade as he sits up and plants a sword of ice into the stone. He uses it to pull himself up. Even the fur on his ears and tail have taken on the gradient. The later shifts to give him better balance.]
We can leave. Or you can take swings at me again. I'm fine with either. Sounds like a good time. [He twitches as the lightning arcs over his back down to his tail. He leans all his weight on the blade. His hair falls over his face like a long curtain as he breathes.] On second thought, let's sit here until this wears off.
I'm not into pain. [Another zap and his ears flick as his tail jerks in agitation.]
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When Kaeya fell flat on the stage, Takame kept his stance with his weapon pointed straight at him. He didn't trust this to not be a ruse, something to make him let his guard down. It was with teeth bared and clenched that he approached the Miqo'te warily.
Hearing his voice sounding comparatively normal and the runes fade from the sky his expression shifted from violent to cautious. It wasn't until several long moments after Kaeya pulled himself up that Takame lowered his weapon. Lowered, not sheathed.
Standing right next to Kaeya, the power still surged in him. When a primal was unleashed, the energy dispersed and in some cases, the vessel fell. But not here, hence his apprehension.
It's his reaction to the spark that had Takame relax his stance. He had advantage.]
... Noted, I suppose. [He almost sounded resigned, finally putting his weapon away and crossing his arms.] Tell me. What in the kami's name was that?
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I don't entirely understand the process of ascension. Supposedly when one is taken to Celestia...this happens. Having undergone this process I think we evolve.
Not everything in our world that evolves is human or humans stay as they were. The Falcon of the West was a human woman in her mortal life. Why this is and why Celestia controls the process, [He sits down as another spark makes him twitch. Damn it. This is annoying. Technically he could fight on through it but he doesn't have the desire to fight right now.] I don't know.
But what you explained about a primal and about what just happened? Do you feel excess Cryo energy here?
[It's all gone. There's only the low-grade cryo energy of Coetheras.] But I am not an Archon. There must be something else involved with that. I bet it has something to do with Celestia and the Archon War. Nothing that helps us right now.
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What reason could this Celestia have to steal that from people? To have more thralls to enact their will unquestioned?
His tail flicked and a shiver went down his spine. He brushed it off as the cold setting in, hiding the brief image of the Mothercrystal in his mind far away. While he looked calm on the surface his tail kept twitching and he dropped his arms, clenching one fist behind his leg even as he spoke.]
The energy is as it once was. You seem to have taken it into yourself. [A pause.] You are fortunate to have only lost yourself for a moment. I would rather not have had to kill you if we knew we would learn nothing.
[Takame sat down as well, breathing deep of the cold air through his nose, exhaling slowly through his mouth where a cloud followed.] ... Forgive me. I mustn't say such things. [He's quiet again as he racked his brain to try and come up with something more... optimistic to day. What would Hina do...]
... 'Tis better the energy lies within you than within the Abyss Order.
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There's nothing wrong with saying the unspoken out loud. I expected you to kill me if I was too big of a threat. I'd have killed you if it were the reverse. [His ears twitch and he reaches down, petting his own tail. It's soothing.]
...when I was lost I was focused on survival. My duty to return home. [His left ear pops up and swivels as he listens for a moment. Nothing coming.] We've learned a great deal in one really foolish plan. I'd say mission accomplished. I'll be able to break it all down after we get out of here.
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He came close once. The scar of the experience remained in how his scales bleached closer to his neck. He didn't respond to the scenario with anything but a low hum, almost a growl. And another tail thump. He shook his head.]
Instinct. [Ever the fallback when pushed against the corner. Despite Kaeya's encouragement of honesty, he still kept it to himself.] I'll see to it that you return. This I swear.
[Focus work now, and his emotion later. When there was time... for now perhaps he ought to actually acknowledge that shock effect.] Ah, the shocks will fade after a while. We shall depart at your command.
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[Kaeya presses his cheek to the cold stone and his ears twitch. A thought occurs to him and he frowns. He curses and presses his face to the stone.]
Wait, can I even get drunk anymore?! [Venti could. Maybe...]
What a horrible side effect.
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Maybe not the best idea, but there were ways to ensure privacy in the place he had in mind. And... a drink couldn't hurt, right?]
... I know of a good tavern in Ishgard. I'm well known there.
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Go on. [His tail bushes up and swishes but, it's not in agitation. A smile is stealing itself across his face. It would be a return to what he knows and that's something. Something good.]
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He was kind of relieved that he did something to lighten the mood, shown by the natural sway returning to his tail as he stood to his feet again.]
I... can lead the way if you'd like? Can you walk? [He offered a hand to help Kaeya up.]
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But I plan to be unable to by the night's end. [He's going to get utterly, stinking drunk. There's no work to worry about (other than work he puts on himself) and no one to give him looks for being tanked to the gills.
Other than Takame. Oh well, sorry new technically co-worker.]
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What was also concerning is how much Kaeya planned to drink. Well, he was going to need to be the supervisor tonight it seems.
Aaaand tail droop. There goes him forgetting the feelios.]
Ah, there's... no harm in that, I suppose. But... we cannot forget that we must report to the alliance...
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I’ll write my report on the way. Then, if they let me go we can get drunk. [He knows someone badly in need of a drink.]
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Regardless, Takame was a man of his word. Once contact was established, he led Kaeya into Ishgard, seeing to it that both their birds were tended to before making his way to the Forgotten Knight.
A quick greeting to the proprietor he requested that some subtle arrangements be made to ensure privacy. After some words exchanged muffled under the volume of general (likely drunk) conversation, he bowed in thanks then took his seat at one of the tables in the far back gesturing for Kaeya to follow.]
You're welcome to order what you'd like.
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[He drapes his tail around the back of his chair. He gets a few wines just to try them. They're not bad. But he finds a nice chill red he polishes off several bottles without feeling even slightly tipsy.]
...I think this robbed me of one of my joys.
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For Takame's part, he sampled one of the wines that was the most recently opened but only took the occasional sip. One of them needed to be lucid and in honesty he preferred wine or something stronger served in a shot over Eorzean ale.
Seeing Kaeya go through a few bottles and noting that none of his inhibitions were lowered... well either he had a better poker face than Takame or this ascension was worse than Takame imagined.]
... That's unfortunate.
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But by the end of the sixth bottle he tucks himself closer to Takame, his tail lazily swaying as he holds the bottle in one hand. His head is bowed but his ears are still upright.]
Oh, there it is. [He says with a slight slur and his left ear twitches several times.]
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He ought to ask his mother some time, he thought idly as he noticed the increasing worry and aggravation of the proprietor and servers respectively. It's with a small shrug of his shoulders and shake of his head that Takame tried to ease their concerns. He certainly owed some kind of explanation later.
Where Kaeya was on bottle six, Takame barely finished with his second glass when the Miqo'te scooched in close to him. He didn't shy away, but didn't lean into it. And he definitely took note of the slur.]
Are you alright?
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Nope. This isn’t someone he knows super well. If it were Lisa he’d just lay his tail across her lap. She’d pet it as if it was just a thing they did every day.]
Found it. You should tell the nice worried people, I’m fine. My tolerance is just very high and I’m no danger to myself.
[There’s a pause as his tail curls around his own hand.] Mm, it’s warmer here. None of that low grade Cryo energy in the city. Nice to rest.
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But maybe he didn't have the right. The delays in his sips only allowed the alcohol to sink in deeper, and finishing off the second glass finally he did one more swift head shake and his vision blurred afterwards.
Perhaps he should have gotten something to eat before drinking. When he felt Kaeya's tail drift over his, his own tail hovered briefly over Kaeya's in response. It drooped some after he pulled it back.]
Mm. The Forgotten Knight is kept warm enough. [Takame wasn't slurring, but he was letting a few more words slip. Opinions.] It is still far too cold.
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It’s the ambient magic. Whatever happened to this region...when we crossed into it I felt the energy blanketing everything. It would be green without it.
Closer to Mondstadt’s temperatures, maybe? [He gestures loosely,] caused me so much pressure and pain. On the other side of it I’m just...aware.
In centuries time, this blanket will just be part of the energy of the land. Mm, but that’s just a theory. [He leans into Takame with a hum as he lets go of his tail.]
I don’t want to think too much. Been thinking without end for months. Usual vices were out.
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A product of the Calamity. I hail from Doma and did not come to Eorzea until five years after it happened, but along my travels and the word of the people here I did learn that Coerthas was indeed once a verdant land. I've only ever known it to be cold. [He took a sip, the more he spoke a faint slur could be heard. And his tail wandered, looking for something to touch.]
Ah, my knowledge of aether is rather limited however.
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At his heart, Kaeya is a strategist.]
I’m not the knight with a study in it. But she always told me that there is...depth to magic. There are layers we see and feel and then those deeper, beyond them. Again not my field. Give me men and a strategy and I can chart a path.
But I think I see what she means now. It’s like I was deaf and blind before. Eddies and currents. A storm that only some can see.
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