featherfoot | PSL - Felih and Rihnn go to the First...

Felih gently ushers his fae friend back onto his shoulder, where she pouts and crosses her arms, warily still looking between the two Miqo'te in confusion. This was weird! There were two of her partner! Well, one looked different, but their aether resonated...

"In the middle of a fight? With what?" he asks, glancing around and letting his ears swivel about to search for any odd sounds. "So we both have no idea where we are. Well, I'm going to check out the conspicuous glowing Crystal Tower," Felih says with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Hopefully someone will be around we can ask for directions. I'm Felih. And you?"

“Long story, best told not in the middle of nowhere,” P’rihnn says, with a shrug that doesn’t quite convey how uneasy he feels about it. Even if, by some miracle, he’s not lying soulless in the dirt for Elidibus to easily decapitate, what would Elidibus be doing now? He needs to finish that fight!

His tail twitches, and he looks up to the sky again, seeking out the Crystal Tower that had been hidden not too long ago by the trees. That there is another mystery to figure out.

“P’rihnn Tia,” he introduces himself, and he glances back at Felih to see if there’s any recognition. He is a little bit famous, after all.

"P'rihnn, then. A pleasure! Ah, and this is Holly," Felih says, gesturing to the faerie on his shoulder, who is still looking at P'rihnn suspiciously. "I'm not sure what got into her, earlier, she doesn't usually fly off like that."

"For now, it seems we're in the same boat. We may as well go ask together," he chirps, taking a few steps before he notes the chakrams at Rihnn's hips.

"Oh! You dance, too?" he says, lighting up as he starts leading the way towards the gate.

P’rihnn’s eyes linger on the faerie for a long moment, trying to puzzle out what she is as well as what she seems to be so confused by. “I see...”

As for Felih... this Tia seems to be about his age, and it’s interesting to see that he also carries chakrams. They are not the most common of weapons found in Eorzea, after all, and he’d never really encountered anyone who wielded them until he met Troupe Falsiam. “...yes. Not something I ever thought I would take up as a battle art, but you could say it feels right.” There’s a small snort of a laugh. “Normally I just use my fists.”

Felih looks P'rihnn up and down for a moment, and nods. "Seems like it. You've the physique of a fighter," he chirps, tail swishing behind him as he walks, the movements fluid. Felih moves like a slinky cat, svelte and sly, an acrobat and dancer by profession.

"I've always favored dancing. It's fun," he hums, "And works quickly in battle, and I do prefer getting the dirty work done quickly. Less dust and dirt that way," he chirps, before gently poking at Holly. "Dear, don't stare. It's rude."

Holly just seems more petulant about this, fussing and yelling in a series of chimes and bells that Felih somehow seems to understand.

"Is that so...? Nn, we'll talk about it later."

It's about that point they finally reach the gates, and Felih looks around curiously.

"Hello? Anybody here? We're quite lost..."

Less dust and dirt... who cares about dust and dirt? Still, it seems that Felih is no stranger to battle either, which is good to know.

“Quite how you can be ‘lost’ with such a distinctive landmark ahead of you, I can only guess,” comes a steady, female voice as a viera woman dressed in a guard’s uniform approaches them at the gate. “You are come to the Crystarium, travellers.”

She folds her arms and looks to the pair expectantly.

“Should you wish to proceed, you shall answer my questions.”

Really? P’rihnn is quite sure he is the one who should be asking questions here, but he waves his hand as a prompt to go on.

“From where do you hail?”

Felih blinks at the Viera woman, ears perking up at the sight of the chakrams at her hips. He's finding lots of fellow dancers today! Still, he can't help but be baffled.

The Crystarium? What is that?

"Crystarium...? I've never heard of such a place..." Felih muses, before responding. "I'm from the sea city of Limsa Lominsa."

But if that voice in his head was true- if that device he'd been holding worked... Is there even a Limsa Lominsa, in this realm? He glances curiously at P'rihnn, wanting to hear where he's from.

“Southern Thanalan,” is P’rihnn’s answer, though his own ears lower, and his tone speaks of caution. The name of the place sounds unfamiliar to him as well, so what might this woman have to say to that?

The guard’s brow furrows, and she shifts ever so slightly, taking a more defensive stance. She doesn’t appear to believe them.

“Do you two take me for a fool?” she asks. “I know of no such lands. We would welcome you no matter your origin, if only you had not chosen concealment.”

It’s quite suddenly that she moves, wielding her chakrams expertly, but it’s clear from her line of sight that neither of them are her target - P’rihnn steps aside as the beast that crept up behind them is slain, eyes only widening a little. Careless, he should have realised it was there! As it dissolves into light and what looks like a ring falls to the ground, P’rihnn watches the woman as she turns back to them.

“Were it any other day, I would not suffer you to pass. However, I am under strict instruction to allow it, and it would not do to displease the Exarch. Come. Let me show you to our fair city.”

Felih just gives the Viera a quizzical look, and glances back towards P'rihnn. "So you're from the same realm I am. I know how I got here- how did you get here?" he asks the other Miqo'te, before the appearance of the Sin Eater catches him off guard.

He jumps, ears low in surprise, before they sink even lower against his hair when he sees the ring fall to the earth. Distracted, he pads towards it, before picking up the ring and cradling it in his hands.

"No..." he murmurs quietly. "There- there was a merchant. I stumbled upon him when I awoke here, he- he was kind to me. Showed me the way here."

He carefully tucks the ring away, and he sighs softly, before returning to the Viera and P'rihnn.

"...I'm not lying, I'll have you know. I won't accept that kind of wound to my honor," Felih huffs with a pout at the woman, referring to his home city, before he begins to follow after her. "Who's this 'Exarch' you speak of?"

A merchant... had the creature eaten him? For a moment, P’rihnn’s ears lower, unable to help feeling a pang of sympathy for a brief moment before the viera begins to lead the way. “How can you not know Thanalan?” he mutters, mostly to himself. Thanalan is rather large, after all - not exactly easy to miss! “Maybe I should have said Eorzea?”

“If you insist,” the Viera says, though her tone says she very much does not believe their lands exist. “The Tower you see before you has but one resident, who we of the Crystarium have come to know only as the Exarch. He is our leader and protector... yet he is a mysterious man, and few can claim to have seen him in person.” She glances back to the two, as if ensuring that they are following her. “It is rare that he gives us such precise instruction as he did today. When he does, it is never without reason.”

P’rihnn only barely holds his tongue, wanting dearly to give some kind of sarcastic answer. A mysterious man in a tower, is it? That hardly sounds like someone worthy of trust. “Are we to get an introduction, then?”

“It strikes me as quite unlikely. The Exarch does not ordinarily meet with people.”

P'rhinn isn't the only one looking puzzled and doubtful. Felih narrows his eyes slightly at the explanation given.

"He expected us... then, he's the one who brought us here," he murmurs to P'rihnn, before turning his focus back to the Viera.

"How is it that someone leads without ever facing their people? How does he communicate with you all? How can you trust someone you can't even know- you even mentioned not wanting to 'upset' him. That's the sort of thing you usually hear about unkind rulers..."

“You will understand in time,” the guard says, and P’rihnn watches how she stiffens slightly as she walks. He’s not sure if it’s fearful, or if she has somehow taken offense to perfectly reasonable questions. “Still, I assure you, he is not an unkind man. He has never once, in a hundred years, let us down... ‘tis only fair that we do our part and not let him down.”

“That doesn’t answer his questions,” P’rihnn grumbles. “How does he speak to you? How does he lead, if he doesn’t leave the Tower? Why is that Tower even here?”

The guard stops as she reaches the bridge leading to the city and turns. Though her expression barely hides her annoyance, she answers him anyway.

“You might say the Exarch is something of a figurehead, more than he is a hands-on political leader. He delegates responsibilities to our various civic leaders, who I strongly suggest you speak with upon your arrival. As for how he speaks with us, there are some strange technologies within the Tower that we make use of.” She looks to the Tower for a moment, before turning back. “As for the Tower’s presence here... it is said that the Exarch, with his powerful magic, summoned it here some hundred years ago. Quite how, none of us can say.”

"Allag," is Felih's exasperated sigh when he hears tell of the Tower's "strange technologies." That empire's horrid existence did at least create some incredible technology... even if the people behind it were cruel tyrants whose hubris led to their downfall.

But it all just makes him nervous. If this Exarch works only from within the tower- if the tower was taken and brought here...

Where's Raha? Where's his beloved friend? Is he still in the tower? Is the Exarch just Raha's alias? Or did the Exarch supplant Raha somehow- wrest control and domain of the tower from him? How? When?

It's making him anxious, his fluffy cloud of a tail twitching by his legs as he walks. Holly hums softly, and chimes and rings some comfort to her partner to soothe him.

"...there is much I would like to discuss with the Exarch," Felih murmurs. "Quite a lot, if he is responsible for bringing us here."

“To say the least,” P’rihnn agrees. He would very much like to do more than simply ‘discuss’ things with this Exarch. Demand to know what he has done to the Scions, and then perhaps punch him in the face. Or maybe the other way around, depending. Still, it seems unlikely he will have access to the mysterious leader’s face any time soon... disappointing, but he still hits a fist into his palm. The gesture earns him a deep scowl from the guard.

“That is assuming he would grant you an audience, which under normal circumstances is highly unlikely. Given that he was seemingly aware of your impending arrival, however, you might not be entirely out of luck.”

“Oh, good. I have questions.”

“There is no guarantee they will be answered,” the guard says, but as she speaks another uniformed guard runs across the bridge and offers her a salute.

“Captain!” he says. “The Exarch requests that I relieve you, and bring his guests to the Tower.”

“Still, it seems that you are in luck,” the guard captain acknolwedges. “If all is well, then, I shall return to your post. You two will mind your conduct while you are here.” She gives P’rihnn a look that says she somehow thinks he is the more troublesome of the two, even though he’s sure he’s been quiet by his standards, before turning and allowing the second guard to walk them towards the Tower.

“This is exceptionally strange,” P’rihnn says to his new companion. “If we are truly in another realm, there shouldn’t be anyone to control the Tower... I’m more familiar with it than most, so trust me - not just anyone can get inside.”

Edited 2020-11-01 07:35 (UTC)

Felih watches P'rihnn's movements with a hint of amusement, though he knows for sure he'll be stopping the other Tia from throwing any punches at this mysterious man- at least until Felih can gauge if he actually deserves to be punched.

As the new guard begins to lead them along, Felih's ears perk up towards P'rihnn.

"You are...? Then- then... well, the captain there did say that the Tower simply appeared one day. Meaning it could have come from our realm, somehow," he murmurs, still thinking aloud. "But if that were the case... there- there is someone..." He trails off, voice faltering as his anxieties come right back to what happened to Raha?

"Ah- that aside... how is it that you've come to be familiar with the Tower, so?" Felih asks after a moment, curious.

“Hm...”

The Tower looks exactly like the one in Mor Dhona, so P’rihnn’s thoughts were on the same wavelength, especially after the Captain mentioned that it had simply appeared here through magic. The last time he checked, it was still in Mor Dhona, so it made no sense for it to have been here for a hundred years. Perhaps it is a copy, somehow?

“I explored it some time ago, with some friends of mine,” P’rihnn explains. “Another long story best told another time... but after I left, it was sealed, by the one person able to command it.” And with that, he gives Felih a curious look, because he couldn’t possibly know about G’raha Tia. Maybe if he was one of the Sons of Saint Coinach, but he’s sure he would have remembered him - he tends to notice when he meets other Tia, with them being far and few between. “Didn’t even give me warning, the bastard. When I see him again I’m going to pull his tail.”

Felih pauses, stunned for a moment as the implications of P'rihnn's words kick in, and he gives voice to the same thing the other Tia is thinking.

"But you- I do not recall seeing you among the Sons of Saint Coinach," he says. "Were you with them during the expedition? I- R- G'raha, he... he went away with hardly any warning, and we couldn't convince him not to seal himself away," he murmurs.

"Were you a friend of his?"

“A friend, yes.” It had been quite nice, really, to have another miqo’te around his own age that he could call a friend... not that he did call him a friend to his face, but the sentiment was there. Still, he pauses, hesitating on their path for a brief moment as they draw closer to the tower. “But I was wondering the same of you. For one, you look like you wouldn’t wear those popoto-sack robes if they paid you. For two, I remember meeting other Tia - I’d’ve seen your face! Not to mention you’d’ve recognised me.”

Felih blinks at the other Tia, baffled, before huffing.

"Well, you're right about all of that, popoto-sack bit included. Those things would look horrid on me," he mumbles, giving a swish of his hips to better highlight how his current attire is far more flattering and flowy. "I... nn."

He sidles up closer to P'rihnn, murmuring quietly, and Holly immediately reaches out to curiously poke the other Tia.

"...Holly says our aether signatures resonate. That shouldn't be possible, unless theoretically, we were the same person. If I had more of Severian's strange concoction, I could test something for myself..." The last bit is muttered more to himself than anything, though.

The alchemist guildmaster? P’rihnn’s ears tilt back a little, confused, as he wonders what strange concoction Felih might be talking about... not to mention what resonating aether signatures could possibly mean.

“You don’t strike me as being particularly similar to me. I’m not half as fancy.”

Still, it’s strange that he remembers the Crystal Tower and G’raha Tia seemingly as well as he does. What if it’s not the only thing?

“What are you thinking?”

Felih hums softly.

"I'm... not sure just yet. Speaking to this Exarch may answer our questions, but... there is much I do not yet know."

The nature of souls would not become known to him for a while yet, and even then, the idea of sharing souls with another...

"Supposedly, the color of one's aether signature is unique to each person. So for us to have the same kind would be unprecedented indeed... At least according to Severian."

It sounds many kinds of ridiculous to him - the idea that they might have similar enough souls to be indistinguishable to that overgrown butterfly. There is still surely something behind it, though, and P'rihnn is not quite dumb enough to deny that, and so he makes a small sound of acknowledgement as they approach the stairs leading to the Tower.

"On the plus side, there's no Labyrinth to fight through," he says, as the guard turns to them.

"Once the doors open, I can go no further. Simply follow the path and it will lead you to the Ocular, where the Exarch will speak with you."

"In person?" P'rihnn asks, ears perking up a little in surprise. He had started to get the impression the 'Exarch' was such a hermit that they wouldn't get the chance.

The guard, however, shakes his head. "I can't say. Most people who meet with him say he speaks to them through technology. I don't know anyone who has seen his face."

Felih's ears perk up.

"Well, there's a chance we'll meet him one way or another," he chirps, trying to be optimistic, as he starts to walk through the tower and along the path. "Thank the Twelve we don't need to go through that Labyrinth again... it's much nicer to walk straight to the front door."

As he walks, he looks around the Tower, curious, trying to get a feel of it. It feels different than before, but that's to be expected if it's been active here for a century.

"And darling, please try to hold off on actually punching the Exarch," Felih chides in amusement. "It's better to save judgement for after we sort out what kind of person he is."

"He's not good news," P'rihnn is quick to argue, and he scowls at Felih, clearly unimpressed by his amused tone... or perhaps being addressed as 'darling'. He rather wishes he was wearing boots rather than sandals right now, as sandals simply are not made for angry stomping as he stalks his way along the path. "Thanks to his 'summons', my friends dropped one by one - their souls ripped out. If you saw them, you would think they were dead."

So if he sees him, he is absolutely going to punch him, even if Felih tells him not to!

"Whatever his reason is, he needs to talk fast."

"Wait- he's done what?" Felih asks, stopping dead in his tracks as he looks at P'rihnn in shock. "He- he tore their souls out? But why- how?" His eyes are wide, his tail bristling. This sounds bad. This sounds very, very bad...

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