ohmyarceus | March - April Test Drive

01. Icefall Cave

[To her, it's the closest thing to home. Every other place, every other area she's seen, been to, feels the opposite. Warm and welcoming. Enough to leave Ysayle on edge, riddled with a healthy amount of scepticism and wariness. It's all been explained to her, but just because that's the case doesn't mean she's acclimating well.

Truthfully, she'd admit (at least to herself) that it hasn't been the smoothest transition. Perhaps that could be expected, given her circumstances. One does not face what she did back home, only to come to a place where she is almost certainly alive and handle it particularly well.

Regardless, Icefall Cave is the first place, and the only one she's found so far that feels even remotely like something she'd be accustomed to. Except even here it's a little more cheery than she would expect. When she pictures ice and snow, the embrace of chilling cold and the kiss of a winter upon her cheeks, it isn't cheer she's thinking of. But to claim Ysayle has ever been a cheerful person would be a bit of a stretch.

As she moves carefully, trying to garner as little attention as she possibly can, a small lapras tails behind her. It's the same one she's been trying to get rid of since she arrived. Rather, it's taken quite a liking to her and no amount of her trying to coax it away has done any good. It's hers, someone has once explained, but Ysayle's never asked for it. Seems glued to her either way. When she does finally catch wind of it, she stops in her ever gradual creeping and attempts to wave it away.]

Go on, then! You have no business with me.

[It's hard to be forceful when she's trying not to attract attention to herself. Or slide across the ice, which is exactly what happens when in her attempt to wave off said small lapras, Ysayle goes sliding across the ice.

She never asked for this.]

02. Network | Video

[Ysayle has absolutely zero interest in showing herself to... anyone, as she either doesn't anticipate sticking around, or she simply isn't the most sociable person. Both are accurate in their own way. Instead, she makes the entire subject of her entry about the same little lapras that happily croons as it rolls over on what appears to be no shortage of sand by the gentle lull of incoming tide.

...It may be a glutton for punishment in her company. Or it simply enjoys being on camera. A diva in the making? Ysayle doesn't know what to make of it.]

How do I rid myself of it.

[Free small lapras to a good home! Or any home! Except that isn't how it works and Ysayle hasn't figured that part out yet.]

03. Wildcard

[As read on the tin. If the above don't strike you, we can do something different here. I'm rather flexible, but if you have questions, please feel free to DM me.]

Lady Iceheart?

[Off screen, one of his Ninetales perks her ears, but for once he's not actually speaking to her.]

Seven hells, why is everyone appearing now...

You cannot be rid of it--or you ought not, we've none of our abilities here, and that creature is meant to be companion and protection.

[He doesn't even consider that she...honestly might not know what he looks like, considering the entirety of the time she spent in his acquaintance he was in his The Helmet Never Comes Off phase.]

[Looking at the video does mean showing herself. It's a voice she... recognises, however. Perhaps not quite as... sharp and serrated as she's accustomed to. In the days that she and Estinien travelled together begrudgingly, they bantered and bickered, oft unable to see eye-to-eye, requiring the aid of a child to intervene.

They aren't her most prideful moments. Recognition is recognition, regardless. And the lapras in question is more than happy to hog up all the video time. How to address him, however? To her, Estinien is just a bittersweet memory.

Maybe heavy emphasis on the bitter part of things.]

Never did I ask for it. It need not be thrust upon me. I would sooner return it. I can protect myself.

[Still prideful, it seems.]

[She looks far more tired than he recalls, but in his defense his life has been very eventful since...well. Their parting. It did quite a lot to smooth out his sharp edges, though. (And see her with some rose-tinted lenses, but that's neither here nor there.)

He shakes his head.]

You might not have asked for it, but it is yours all the same--these creatures have a command of magic that we've been denied--even my ability to jump is restricted here.

They're quite canny besides.

Have you just arrived? That woman will boot you out without so much as an explanation, Aymeric and I are not so far off and can return for you.

Edited 2022-03-16 21:15 (UTC)

[It's when the lapras pushes her video, so she can get a better look at Estinien, that she lets her gaze linger on the image of his face for several long moments before she draws it aside. His words settle with her. His offer, too.

In the back of her mind, he looks... exactly the way she's expected him to. Can she remember seeing anything other than the infinite frown in his face? No. Maybe not.]

I have. [She responds to him easily enough and she takes a moment to assess her surroundings. Just in case she is, indeed, about to be removed by force. Not yet, it seems.] I can find my way. This... thing. [She motions to the lapras.] Perhaps it will be of assistance.

[He actually looks...if not embarrassed, at least awkward, not looking directly at her either. Of course she has no reason to wish for his assistance, not when their short acquaintance had been little but antagonistic on both their sides. It was foolish of him to think otherwise, and all to easy to think of things rosier than what they had been, especially when the other party was no longer present to call it into question.]

Of course. And it ought to be, from my guess its aspect would be water, or perhaps ice. They vary. This device can tell you of them.

[He turns so some of the rest of his team is in frame, a Flygon, two Ninetales, one snow white and the other pale gold, and a Corviknight.]

I've been here for some time, should you have questions.

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[Aymeric has heard much and more about both Lady Iceheart and Ysayle Dangoulain. The reports he'd spent hours pouring over in the wake of his father's death and the return of the Warrior of Light had assured him of that. Her sacrifice had been accelerant to the already growing flame of revolution, had been motivation to keep going even at his most exhausted and downtrodden. He had to when so many had given their lives for the truth.

But at the end of the day, familiar as he might consider himself with her actions, it's certainly not enough for him to recognize her by voice alone, not with such few words. So he responds to her like any other, steady and assuring despite his own relative unfamiliarity with the world.]

I will admit I have not done much searching for how, but I suspect given the bounds of this reality, it is not possible. They are meant to be bonded companions, I have come to understand. Rest assured, it will do you no harm, and they are quite hearty creatures on their lonesome. You needn't worry overmuch about care and upkeep.

[Which... probably explains the Swablu nestled atop his head. Still. Fury help him, he can't escape.]

Edited 2022-03-16 20:24 (UTC)

[Aymeric's words are all meant to be reassuring ones. She interprets them like so, though she wouldn't consider herself in need of reassurance either. She's spent far too long handling things herself to consider relying on someone else. After all, at a point in time, when she did have need of others, the place that was her homeland, should have embraced her and protected her, simply refused her. Time and circumstance have, no doubt, hardened her.

Sometimes to the point of hostility. Fortunately since arrival, she has managed to curb that a touch. She may be cold, or at the very least, seem it, but it could certainly be far worse.]

I see. I did hear of that before. [Perhaps she has only hoped it would be talk. She is not certain how well she fares with companionship. Constant companionship, at that.] I had hoped to place it somewhere that it would be more practical than in my care, what little I am like to offer it. Evidently that is not an option.

[She settles, chin in the palm of her hand, catching only the faint edge of video. Enough to make our dark hair. The... seemingly soft, fluffy... bird? Is that a fluffy bird...? Not a moogle, for certain, and Ysayle continues to hold a certain fondness for moogles.]

[As if sensing the attention, Lucille shifts against his head, angling her rounded form down as she tries to peer at the camera. Someone is looking at her, she's pretty sure of that. She lets out a chirp of a greeting, albeit to no one in particular.]

This Star is very careful to ensure that you do not want for company, even if the opposite is true. [He sounds a little amused at that, at least. There had been no shortage of warm and enthusiastic greetings on his arrival, but that was strictly by virtue of knowing so many faces already. He's since learned that many others are not so lucky. At least there was mercy, in being provided a companion.

Mercy for some, at least.]

Unfortunately, it also does little to explain the how's or why's of your new existence. 'Twould be my honor to assist you, were I capable of doing so. However, as I am still coming to grips with it all myself, it would hardly be an acceptable pairing.

[She nods slowly, content enough to take in what he's willing to share. What she thinks of it beyond those moments is difficult to say. Perhaps if only because she's not well-versed in accepting kindness. It is, frankly, a bit easier to banter and argue with someone than to be particularly... personable.

After a pause, Ysayle continues. 'New existence' is certainly one way to put it because the end of her existence is what she remembers.]

There is no need for you to do such, especially if our positions are similar. I am aware that your dragoon is here. He should be able to provide you with any assistance that you may need.

[A 'thank you,' would be nice, she's sure, but that's just not something that leaves her easily. But at least she's thinking it. After all, he could have avoided her perfectly well enough.]

Edited (oops brackets) 2022-03-16 21:57 (UTC)

[Up until this point, Aymeric had been operating under the assumption that he was communicating with a stranger. A familiar sounding one, mayhap, but a stranger nonetheless. With the firmness in which the woman calls Estinien to mind not by name, but by a title that he hasn't heard his friend throw around in public since his arrival, he's a touch taken aback. He's silent as he sifts through the memories, trying to trace back where and why he knows this voice.

He feels a touch foolish when he finally alights upon the answer. It doesn't change the sentiment of the conversation, though.]

Ah, Lady Dangoulain. [Even if she isn't looking directly at the camera, the sheepish note his voice carries will say all it needs to.] You mistake my offer of kindness as one of selfishness. I need not the assistance for myself, but rather that I would be happy to offer all I could to another if I thought it might help.

[Lady Dangoulain. She can't determine if she likes that more or less than 'Lady Iceheart.' Both are undoubtedly her. Both come with implications of history and the present. Both lead her precisely to where she is now. Her knowledge on Aymeric is sparse. It's not as though they've ever been terribly close.

She can't say she knows what he thinks of her, especially based on anything he's learned. What... is an Aymeric of the future she was robbed like? She can't even begin to speculate. She finds herself in the same position she's in with Estinien—at a grave disadvantage. Things are distinctly different and she can't understand why or how.

Eventually, she sets her attention back onto him, ignoring the way her lapras attempts to make its way into her lap. It just wants to be a part of things, too. Or maybe it wants to comfort her. Hard to say.]

Would you. [It's not really a question. Ysayle studies him for several long moments, thinking perhaps if he were at the head of Ishgard when she needed their home most, she might not have endured all she had. All she can do is speculate and do her best not to feel overly bitter.] Yes. I suppose you would. Yet you have only just arrived. I would not wish to burden you.

[Or anyone else, for that matter.]

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[Hearing that voice again hits like a dagger to the chest, and it takes a moment before G'rhyf trusts themself enough to turn the feed on. They wonder if she would even recognize them, if she's from their timeline--missing features and Light-stricken eye aside the lines of their face itself have changed a fair bit, more masculine and chiseled than the softer features they bore back then.]

You won't, really, if this is the creature you had with you upon arrival. We're meant to make partners of them and guide them in battles, though they're far smarter than any beast from home.

[Still, they can hope at least. They've missed her dearly.]

[Everyone seems to be saying the same thing. Ysayle finds in this a troubling truth of her circumstances. Not home. Unsure of how to find her way home, if even she can. The truth of things just to return home. Does she want to return home? It doesn't take much more thought for her to realise that she doesn't really want to think about it that deeply.

More importantly is the miqo'te addressing her. Not one she recognises, unfortunately. But a kind one. Seems to be a running thing here.]

How do you know that? Have you ever spoken with the beasts back home?

[Yes, because that's definitely the important part of the conversation here. She'll acknowledge that they're from the same world, at least. There's no denying that.]

[Clearly the most important thing to be clear on, definitely.]

From time to time. I talk to my chocobo quite often, though I don't think he understands half of what I say. Dhaval and the rest of my Pokemon follow along quite easily by contrast--at least with my words, they struggle with some concepts.

Just because he does not understand the way you say something does not mean he does not understand what you are trying to convey.

[Mind, Ysayle is no chocobo whisperer herself, but sometimes it's not language used that gets the point across. Sometimes it's tone.]

The creatures of this world are different than what you and I are accustomed to. To me it seems an unfair comparison. The circumstances are distinctly different.

Mmm, you do make a fair point. Communication is much more important for Pokemon than any creature I can think of back home...save mankind itself, or dragons, of course.

The conversations between mankind and dragon themselves provide example of how the language can be the same and still misunderstood. Misconstrued. Twisted and manipulated. I would not foresee the same difficulties with these Pokemon of which you speak.

Although— [She can't help casting a look over to her lapras.] —I hardly know what this one would want of me. Mayhap merely attention. Are you capable of understanding your own?

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[Radley is amused by the Lapras exhibiting such kitty-like behavior in rolling all around. But he can see the owner isn't amused, and he becomes a bit concerned for the innocent Pokemon.]

Aww, the little guy likes you. And he's kinda yours for as long as you're here. Honestly, I'd be happy to take him, but that's not how it works. And you're really gonna need a Pokemon the longer you're here. So far, no one's figured out how to voluntarily leave.

You are able to determine that it is a 'he?'

[Ysayle takes some time to watch her lapras. She never asked and it seems like the lapras isn't inclined to answer her aside from it's... cute little noises that it seems to enjoy offering.

There's more important information in what he has to say, but evidently figuring out what to call this very endearing animal is more important.]

Ah, no. I just didn't wanna say "It," you know? That seems to be what a lot of people say for them.

[Or it's what he remembers most from the franchise back home. It always bugged him.]

[He's kinder than she is, in that respect. Ysayle, for just a moment, reconsiders how she's been calling her lapras and decides that she will continue to do as she intends to. Yet that is the uncompromising way she can sometimes be.]

Are there others here who are capable of determining whether this creature is a he or a she?

[If she's stuck with it, it'll probably need a name. Knowing what it is will likely help.]

I'm guessing you could probably find out at a Pokemon Center. Most of the towns have those, and there's a couple more at out of the way places too, I think.

I see. If it to be staying with me against my wishes, then I suppose I must needs see to it.

[Very, very begrudgingly.]

Is there other necessary information you would see fit to provide to one who has only recently arrived?

Ysayle Dangoulain | FFXIV | OTA

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