[avalon] IC Inbox

[emet_sulk]

I am currently not available at the moment.
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[emet_sulk]

Very well. And how sombre must I be for this meeting? Heavy enough to need to dose myself with coffee before meet?

[ It sounds facetious, but he honestly might need it. ]

[penumbrals]

[ Dose himself with coffee, huh? It does indeed sound facetious, and yet it's a suggestion that makes perfect sense, especially given what she has finally decided to tell him. ]

That might be wise, yes. Although I will also treat you to a coffee once we meet.

I will begin making my way back to the city.

[emet_sulk]

I shall be waiting.

[ True to his word, he can be found taking his ease at the bakery she had mentioned. He slowly sips at a coffee while he waits for her, reading a book. ]

[penumbrals]

[ And true to hers, she isn't far behind, arriving with an even more somber expression than normal - and hers is unaided by coffee. Since Ryne's disappearance, the other girl is practically all she's thought about, and the tired misery of it all may show in her face to someone as good at seeing through people as she's noticed he seems to be. Still, she tries a small smile on for size as she sits, her pocket-sized Voidwalker flitting around her in an evident display of the anxiety she's feeling. ]

Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.

[ To her admittedly-lacking memory, she's never been particularly good with small-talk, and she's even less good with secrets or appropriate build-up to their reveal. It's for that reason, perhaps, that her next statement comes seemingly out of nowhere: ]

You said when we met that I seemed familiar to you.

[emet_sulk]

[ When she arrives, he looks up and sets his mug down with a soft clink, shuts his book and leaves it aside. She looks quite miserable. Come to think of it, she had been close with the Oracle, hadn't she...? ]

I did. Are you finally going to sate my curiosity then?

[ From her manner alone, he has a feeling he knows what she's going to tell him. But he wants to hear it directly from her lips. ]

ffxiv 5.4 spoilers inbound, just in case anyone stumbles on this~

[penumbrals]

[ She nods, a brief tilt of her head acknowledging and answering his question. Why she's been hesitant for so long, she's not exactly sure... Perhaps it was vulnerability, or perhaps fear of becoming once more who she once was. After all, under Artemis's influence, it had been so easy...

But Ryne is gone, and if she has any hope of getting back home to their frozen world, any hope of saving her - and everyone else - then... well, she supposes that Urianger would say that any knowledge she can obtain would serve to aid her. And in some ways, Emet-Selch quite possibly knows her better than she knows herself.

Gaia squares her shoulders, lifts her chin, angling her gaze right at his own. ]

I told you that my memories of my life are largely gone, did I not? In fact, "Gaia" is not even truthfully the name I was given upon my birth, although I have chosen to carry it forward. It was given to me by an old friend in an effort to remind me of another life that I no longer remember.

[ And here, her gaze falters, just for a moment, a drop of her eyes, an unhappy twitch of her lips before a deep breath brings her back. ]

Gaia was also my name in that life. Although most knew me only by the title of the seat I held: that of Logrif.

[emet_sulk]

[ He's quiet in the wake of her confession, staring at her as though he can still see through the mortal shell she wears and straight to her very soul. He can't any more of course, but he can remember the colour of her soul so clearly. After all, he's the one who picks out his brethren so that they may be raised to their seat again. It has not been so long that he's forgotten how she and Mitron met their previous ends.

Eventually he drops his gaze to the hands folded in his lap, fingers tracing idle whorls across skin. ]

Loghrif... [ he murmurs. He takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh. ] To think that Mitron yet remained self-aware enough to call to you despite their transformation. Truly, a love which knows no equal.

[penumbrals]

[ It takes all of Gaia's willpower not to drop her gaze once more when Emet-Selch's eyes focus on her with such intent. ]

In spite of everything we went through, A- Mitron found me. [ It's a strange correction, a beat into the other's name too late, for all intents and purposes unneeded... and yet there's a strange urge to guard it for her own. Despite that, though, the elder's comment is met with a dismissive shrug—

—Or perhaps that's just another way of protecting her feelings and thoughts. ]

We made a promise, that's all. To find each other.

[ There's still a lot for her to unravel there. ]

At any rate, I think you'll find that also answers your question as to why I am called the Oracle of Darkness. [ Although admittedly she has no reason to believe that Urianger knew the truth of her identity when he named her as such. ] Mitron said that my true power is still a part of me... only that I've forgotten how to use it.

[emet_sulk]

[ He rolls his eyes. ]

Ah, yes, the only woman in all of Norvrandt blessed with the power of Darkness! She surely must be the Oracle of Light's counterpart.

[ Waving a hand before she can interject, he gives a shorter sigh. ] You have the same latent potential as all the sundered shards of Ascians do. You were, after all, a paragon even amongst our people. It stands to reason you possess power enough to put other fragments to shame.

[ Lifting his head, he smiles thinly. ]

You could never hope to rival me of course. Not in your current state. Did Mitron tell you aught of what you can do with your power?

[penumbrals]

[ There's a moment after he speaks, sarcasm practically dripping off his words, that Gaia bristles, and for a moment nearly protests. Whatever the reason for her powers, in the end the belief that she and Ryne fit together served them both well, didn't it? Even after the others departed, they were able to bring balance back to the Empty, and...

She shakes her head. This isn't the time or place for it.
(Nor is it the time or place to point out that of the two of them, here, her dark powers at least still exist, even if they're in something of a different form.) ]

I'm afraid that there wasn't really time for it. Mitron used Eden's powers to force my past self to awaken, but... [ Explaining that she resisted it? For a mortal existence? She's not sure the Architect (and where did that knowledge come from?) would understand. ]

I suppose it's quite a long story. But Mitron's gone, now. Free to be reborn, as I was.

[emet_sulk]

...Well.

[ He looks away, towards the street. How should he feel in this situation? ]

I suppose I should at least thank you for sending him on. If he was conscious all that time, I can't imagine he enjoyed the solitude.

[ And solitude is something he understands very well, doesn't he? He wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, least of all Mitron. ]

...So, Loghrif - or Gaia, as I suppose you must prefer, considering how you tried to hide from me when we first met - what do you want? Further lessons in controlling the Dark? For me to reminisce over what I know of you and Mitron?

[ There's an aloofness to his manner now, as though he couldn't care less what she says. He watches and waits for her response with an impassive expression. ]