Books are strewn across the desk, across the thin ledge that surrounded A.L.I.C.E.'s primary home – an Allagan diagnostics table, really across any surface in the 'forbidden' library that they could be placed. Literally, any book she has on magitek, or the company has on the subject rests somewhere in the room, open to some page or another related to one of the three projects at hand. One had been created by Eric before he left, one had yet to be designed.
The other having been initially designed by herself, but ultimately redesigned and created by the engineer after they met in Eureka, and she hired him on as the company's full-time engineer. With Eric gone, and the consistent interruptions leading the company gave her, she couldn't turn the crass Ishgardian down.
And as if to prove the point, life was adding more and more technical work to the docket.
She had never had the chance to disclose the details of what caused her aetheric condition. Not before the engineer had finished designing and building the device that would control the flare-ups of elemental aether. Her attempts to disclose even one part of what she hadn't told him had gone poorly. Having just awoken and recovered enough to even walkabout after what was meant to be a simple job for the Confederacy turned out to be an encounter with a Primal. One which went far more sideways than even she could have predicted, resulting in the woman having to stand toe-to-toe with the false deity, much as she once had nearly four cycles ago. She had run across the engineer working not within the sub-basements as he usually was, but at the public goldsmithing station.
He had been working to reinforce the weaknesses in the crystal that would serve as the core component of the device, something that also added to the capacity of the small structure to create the level of power they would need for what he was after for his broader ideas. At the time, she had no idea he was nearly finished with the entire piece of work, trying to move one of the small stools over from the bar to watch and discuss the process. He'd blindsided her by informing her that he had some level of care that she was no longer entirely bedridden – she hadn't been aware that he'd been around when they'd returned.
The Ishgardian continued to keep her off-balance when he switched from discussing the disrupted mission to asking what her favourite colour was. That's a topic the woman had never bothered with, even though her younger sister had often tried to get her to pay attention to such things when they were younger. While he didn't much succeed either, he did threaten, in his rude manner, to make the crystal look awful unless she bothers selecting something. So after a fleeting moment of thought, she asked him to make it look like an emerald; her other idea was to make it into a deep-coloured amethyst, as those two kinds of gems would match the single colour she ever wore aside from shades of black and grey.
It seemed his entire purpose was to keep her on her back foot, as the engineer's response to her choice was beyond what she had expected.
"Aw, you love my eyes that much, eh?"
She had tried to get around the statement, pointing out that she'd barely ever seen them since the man wore shades all the time due to the fact his eyes were photosensitive. Although he teased her about being 'adorable when flustered', he thankfully avoided the fact that he had just removed the goggles that had been protecting his eyes while working on reinforcing the crystal. Instead, he reminded her that she'd seen his eyes the first day they'd met – as if there were any meaning to that – as well as citing her offered fashion-related reason didn't make much sense to him since he'd only ever seen her wear greys.
He was rather relentless with all of it. She explained that she'd given up wearing any red hues recently, due to the company working in Gyr Abania. He wondered if it had been since they'd met, since she had been wearing some red when they met, leaving her to explain that she still wore it or other colours when out doing other things. Her attempt to point out that the star didn't revolve around him also failed, as he claimed that any time he was working, she was there. It only made her angry enough for a shimmering aura of heat to surround her. She informed him that the company hall was actually her estate, and that she lived there, that she would go wherever she pleased, and that the workshops he was working out of were hers, so he should like to remember such.
Of course, he managed to still do something that threw her off – instead of responding to any of that, he told her to shut up, grabbed her hand, and placed the finished magitek device into it. Out of reflexive habit, she had grabbed his wrist as he began explaining to her how it fit, and that he'd figured out the size of her breast by staring at them. The grasp lasted only long enough for him to explain that as then the hand lifted to slap him, also out of reflex, though instead of it being a combat reflex – which would have been significantly faster – it was out of embarrassment.
He didn't take it all that well, citing that the only reason he didn't react with more than words being that she looked near-dead, unlike literally anyone else she'd ever dealt with. Even the brash Miqo'te fighter – he ordered her to do as she was told before starting to head up the stairs so he could nurse his wound outside. Despite being shocked at everything, she managed to spit out that there were things they hadn't gotten to before he finished the piece that might interfere with it. That seemed to upset him even more than his being slapped, leading him to insult her rather deeply – making her wonder, not for the first time why she bothered dealing with Eorzeans at all.
Ultimately, she never got a chance to explain what the two different pieces of information the engineer was missing were. He'd been far too irritated about the fact there was any missing information at all, despite the fact she couldn't get him to state he'd have shared any of his essential secrets with her on the first day. He'd demanded what to some would be a rather exorbitant payment, due to the lack of information, being slapped for trying to discreetly fit the device to her form, and perhaps just a general test of his position as the engineer. She gave very little care about the coin, however. She and her younger sister had stolen what was meant to be their inheritance before leaving their homeland, and begun investing it while still making it seem like they were going to live in Thavnair. She had been making it grow it ever since – company costs were far below what the company and the various investment outlets produced. He could have easily have asked for double, and she wouldn't have batted an eye over it.
They'd discovered that at least one of her two secrets caused no issue with the device. As when they went to head inside to discuss it, he made the mistake of calling her "Your Highness", the same way the Miqo'te fighter used to whenever he felt like she was withholding something. A burst of aether began to flare, but the device redirected it to the crystal. Although she told him to never call her that, rather forcefully, even after managing to remain calm during the rest of the conversation that had taken place outside, he refused to not unless she didn't act like one – something quite similar to the Miqo'te.
He'd been strangely more concerned about her state of health once they were inside, trying to pass such off as not wanting to be bitched at by the rest of the crew for her straining herself just to deal with him. When she pointed out that they knew better, and wouldn't, he changed his tactics. Trying to use her discomfort over the strange patterns the lightning left on her skin to force her to stop working, thinking it was pain prompting her attempts to cover them, again reminding her that she looked like she was dead when he last saw her. She pointed out the scars didn't hurt, even admitted why the scars bothered her in hopes that he would drop it, only to have him again throw her off-guard.
"Count the blessings you have, Commander. The fact that folks care about you is something not many have, so don't go pushing yourself to death."
The statement distracts as she looks over a passage in the tome, as she again wonders what he had meant. The phrasing was almost pointing towards the members of the company. However, something about it makes her pause, given that he had just been trying to stop her from doing as she always did – particularly after their confrontation in Anemos.
She shakes her head, attempting to refocus. There was a lot of information to go over before speaking to the engineer again, as not only did she need to discuss the adjustments to her own device, but she also needed to address the two other devices that were required.
They would need to either upgrade the rough aetheroaccelerator that Eric had created for Roscoe before leaving so that the Red Mage could cast the White Magic he was so inept at. It would also allow him to even use magic at all without tapping his aetherpool so dramatically that he would need to drain away aether from others, or need a potion that couldn't easily be kept on hand. It proved to work well enough in situations where the Highlander didn't need to cast all that much, but after the incident with Susano, it was found to be a bit lacking for more active combat.
Given that the engineer had created a device to allow himself to use magic when his aetherpool was below what was needed for any sort of mage to reliably cast, she wasn't too concerned there.
The majority of her research was going towards discerning a way to record data from flashbacks caused by the curse the Mothercrystal gave. She had experienced one during the fall of Rhalgr's Reach, and what she had seen left her needing more information, and in particular, data – data that may only be obtained safely via the flashbacks or at sites like the destroyed Reach. They had the small oneiromantic pearls that she had the company spies' borrow' from Koh Rabntah, or Noah, as it were, and she believes that such could be used in whatever device they come up with. Though it will likely take a bit of creative innovation to make it all work, hence going through everything she had on magitek, Allag, and a few other subjects.
Perhaps these two projects will be enough to make the engineer forgive her when she brings up the last part related to the device he made for her…
Rai lay in the bed in the barracks, which made her very uncomfortable beyond the pain of her injuries; she had her own wing in the Hall, with private rooms where she would retreat - a sanctuary within the madness of the company's endlessly dangerous and strange work. However, she had been unconscious when they arrived, it was quite late at night, and no one who could make it passed the warding was awake; instead, they had taken herself and Veluren to the barracks and began the long process of stabilising her, healing some of the damage the massive lighting strike had caused, rebalancing her aetheric elemental affinities, and draining away the overabundance of aether that tapping the Crystals had caused - it was exhaustive for Roscoe and Zanin, while what caused the damage was exhausting to her.
And so she was left with so little energy, she had not yet bothered to reach for the linkpearl to call her brother-in-law - she never wasted energy on movement if she did not need to. Rai simply lay still, contemplating what had happened, having to personally challenge a Primal to save the soul of a woman she didn't know, to keep the Au Ra laying in the other bed from losing his own; they had gone to Zekki to save a reckless Confederate, and it had all gone wrong. Much like four years ago, when they had faced Titan that had been summoned once again by the Kobolds, the Commander of the Dark Embers ended up being the one that the Primal took its wrath out upon; and again, she wasn't armoured for such a thing - while she was a martial fighter, she was still a mage, a grey mage, and clad in cloth and some scant leather, strikes from giant swords were nearly fatal.
Because of the curse Hydaelyn blessed her with, they often forgot she was still just a mortal, but she did not - Darren had confronted her on her mortality, and the fact she seemed to lack much care for continuing her existence; she suspected he too lived on the edge as she did, though she did not know what his reasons were. Time and again she danced along the edge of the abyss, toes dipping into the yawn of the Lifestream - even travelling through it from time to time - and yet those around her still seemed to forget that she could die, that she nearly had after Titan decided to flip nearly the length of his rocky platform upon her unshielded form.
She wondered if it would take falling into the Lifestream for at least a few moments for them to wake up to the fact that despite her curse, she was just as mortal as they were.
Merlwyb was sitting at her desk, reading over the latest reports from the Maelstrom command as Eynzahr stares out the window at the ships sailing the harbour below. After a long moment, she looks up towards the arch leading to the stairwell, eyes narrowing slightly as she pauses to take a sip of her tea before looking back to her reports. The other Roegadyn looks back at the sound of the pause in the shuffling of parchments, before resuming his distant inspection of the ships.
Several minutes later, she again looks back towards the stairs, agitated as she takes another sip of her tea, clearly expecting something that is not where it should be. Merlwyb begins looking back to the report she was on, however it was clear to Eynzahr that it was not actually being read; he finally turns from the window and looks to the arch leading to the stairs himself, curious as to what was bothering his commanding officer.
Before he could ask anything, however, the doors below slam open, and the watch begin shouting. The Storm Marshall reaches for his own weapon, however the woman at the desk simply raises a hand as she lowers the papers to the desk, looking sideways at Eynzahr; the man looked a bit confused, given that now there was a roar of a beast, and the sounds of shots being fired.
"Admiral...?"
"Who were we expecting today, Marshall?" she asks plainly.
Although he is still not completely sure of what was going on, he does remember who was supposed to be paying the Admiral a visit. He moves back to flank the Roegadyn that sits patiently at the desk, sipping her tea as if there was no commotion down the stairs, and waits for it to end.
One of the watchmen's pistols comes flying up the steps, falling squarely within the archway as the echo of the last shot drifts away, and the dull thud of a body hitting the wall before hitting the floor is the last sound of the combat before there is nothing but silence. After a long moment, a woman clad in dark leather and a dark, beat up coeurl make it to the top of the stairs.
"Uh, Admiral, were you aware that the Maelstrom sent you some young pups to guard you today?" a tone-dead, emotionless voice asks as the woman makes her way through the archway, slinging her modified Pre-Imperial Garlean Revolver into the holster that ran from her left shoulder to her right hip before shifting the pack on her right shoulder. "And why didn't you tell 'em I was showing up?"
The coeurl stops and sniffs at the pistol that is laying on the ground, batting at it a little bit before she lazily follows behind the Hyur, looking around the office with indifference.
As she leans against the back of one of the chairs waiting before Merlwyb's desk, she looks at Eynzahr and tilts her head just a fraction of an ilm, and states, "Oh, Marshall, might wanna tell the boys down on the Aftcastle they messed up on the watch rotation. They're a bit green."
"Làska. Stop harrying Eynzahr - those men weren't fresh recruits, and you know it. They just don't fight people like you and your crew," Merlwyb scolds, setting her tea down on the desk, "which is why I decided that you'd make the perfect training exercise for them."
Claire drops down into the chair, giving the Admiral a look as she drops the pack down beside her, something within it making a soft thud as it hits the ground. Once the coeurl has paced back and forth, giving the Marshall a look like she was planning on making him dinner, the old beat up feline flops down to the woman's left, huffing as if she was bored.
"And you didn't let me in on your little training course, ma'am?" the Hyur asks, her unscarred eyebrow raising.
Merlwyb leans forward, elbows coming to rest on the desk as her fingertips steeple together; she looks at Claire from one side of her hands, eyes faintly narrowing as she smirks.
"Miss Làska, any time you show up to my office yourself, you're either coming to tell me that you're going to do something or that you've already done something, and you're just letting me know what happened or what's going to happen," the Admiral stated, eyebrows raising a bit. "When you wish to play at diplomacy, you send Verus and he treats me to a very lovely tea service or dinner, actually offers something worthwhile in exchange for whatever it is your crew is about to get up to, and we make nice like they do in Gridania and Ul'dah.
"So this time I decided that I'd get something out of your brash nature, in advance, regardless of whether you were going to be telling me you were doing something, or had done something," she finishes, picking up her cup of tea before she leans back in her chair, one leg crossing over the other as she takes a sip from the cup. "It's a new policy I'm instating with you, Làska. Get used to it."
The Hyur just stares at the Roegadyn across the desk before lowering her arm and picking up the sack, the rest of her body remaining motionless. She slowly pulls up the canvas strap, setting the bulk of the pack on her lap as she begins to open the flap at an even slower, precise pace, speaking as she does so.
"Funny that, Admiral. Guess this here box is just an illusion, or it's empty, or I didn't bring it at all," she states before setting it on the desk, between herself and Merlwyb. "I mean, I guess I didn't come baring gifts from a far-off, distant land that your fleet can't reach, that a lot of airships don't dare go, and most that do wouldn't share with landbound litter like Limsa."
A key is resting in a lock made out of a metal that is rather unfamiliar to Merlwyb; the metal lines every edge of the equally unfamiliar wood that the chest is made of, piquing her curiosity. Several moments later, the woman reaches out and turns the key, and the lock springs open, causing the chest to crack open just an ilm or so - and then she reaches out and lifts the lid even further, revealing the treasures of a skybound world far from the shores of La Noscea.
Eynzahr peers over the back of the Admiral's chair and her shoulder, trying to see inside of the chest, his jaw dropping when he sees the contents inside. A few pieces within the strange chest were already familiar, but many of them weren't - and that can only mean quite a bit of gil and advancement for the Maelstrom.
"Làska...is this from where I think it is?" Merlwyb finally asks.
Claire shakes her head once, replying, "Not entirely. Some of it is from the operations happening out in the Sea of Clouds, but some of it is from an entirely new venture. Sorta legal, more so than what we're pullin' in the Sea, some of it...not."
The Roegadyn looks up from the chest, her eyes narrowing a bit as she starts to state, "I can't take ill gotten g--"
"Bullshit, but don't you worry your fluffy little head, Admiral. Most of the operations we'll be doing will be for the third son of our benefactor, so they're completely legal - once he gets his operation up and running, which'll be shortly here," the roguishly dressed woman says, smirking faintly. "However, the Diadem is a lot rougher than the Sea, especially where we're going. So, I came to let you know that I'll be adding armaments to my fleet - in exchange for the plethora of excess of materials we're getting."
The Storm Marshall raises his head from the inspection of the box, eyes widening at Claire's words, quickly replying, "Airship cannons?! IN THE MIST! Absolutely n--"
Merlwyb's hand again rising to cut Eynzahr off, the Admiral giving Claire a hard stare, clearly not amused that any part of her was called fluffy.
"Standard cannons and harpoon guns, none of your damned Allagan modifications on them, and given the assumed location of this Diadem, dragonkillers - two to a side. I'm also assuming you'll be needing the 'killers to make port on these isles. That's it, Làska," the Admiral orders. "If, and only if, the beasts of the Diadem prove to be difficult can you modify the dragonkillers and the harpoons being shot, not the guns themselves. Is that clear?"
Eynzahr turns to look at the other Roegadyn as if she'd lost her mind, blinking several times at his commanding officer in disbelief. While he is quite sure that the treasures from these skybound areas were worth quite a bit, he isn't quite sure if arming non-Maelstrom ships of any kind is wise at all.
Claire slowly gives the Admiral a small smile, nodding once as she replies, "Yeah, I promise not to use them on the neighbours, unless for some reason they decided to stage an uprising against your command. Limsa gets forty percent of what we find, with a fluctuation to up to sixty when we don't need it. Deal?"
For a long moment, Merlwyb just consideres the Hyur across from her, occasionally eyeing the chest that rests between them, and the nearly empty cup of tea. She pauses to take a sip of the tea, while Eynzahr continues to look at the pair with complete and utter apprehension. Finally, the Admiral sits the empty tea cup down on her desk and looks from the treasure chest to the airship commander.
"This is favourable to the Maelstrom and Limsa Lominsa," she states, nodding. "You have your accord, Làska - don't fuck it up."
"An accord, then, Fluffy," Claire states, standing up as she drops the sack onto the chair. "Pleasure workin' with you, Admiral."
The Commander of the Embers doesn't give Merlwyb time to reply to her - Claire slips onto the back of the coeurl, who rises immediately and breaks for the stairs, clearly sick of being inside a building. The Roegadyn woman simply glares at the back of the Hyur and her feline for a few moments, before shaking her head and looking back to the present left on her desk.
"Seems Làska's been living in Limsa for too long - she's acting more like one of us than she is a Thavnairian," the Admiral comments, picking up a crystal from the pile of treasure.
Eynzahr glances at Merlwyb as he approaches her desk and takes a closer look at the contents of the chest, asking, "...you seriously believed her about that?"
Merlwyb threw her head back and laughed, tossing the crystal at Eynzahr as she replied, "No, of course not."
As Tondra carries her across La Noscae, Claire taps her linkpearl and asks in an almost playful voice, "So, Zak...what'll you do to get harpoon guns on your airship?"
She waits a moment for the reply before asking in an even more playful voice, "And how about for cannons?"
Claire again waits for the reply before asking in an actually playful voice, "Now, how about for a pair of dragonkilers on either side - ones that can be modified with Allagan technologies?"
OOC: Yeah, some of that encounter is gonna come back to bite Claire on the ass. Don’t worry your fluffy little heads~.
Did the Void Ark, and got my weekly token. Claire looks a bit more properly like I wanted her to with that coat now. A bit sad that the dye channel on the goggles isn’t for the lenses, as I don’t like the super neon red lenses.
But yes, this is properly how Claire’s “Machinist Prime” outfit should look.
[1]<Claire Brea> "Well, it's been rather quiet recently, which is never a good sign. I think perhaps we should pay Lord Fuzzybutt a visit and deal with that while we're not having to deal with Ishgardian matters."
[1]<Claire Brea> "So, get your arses to the meeting hall."
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "Am presuming that is an affectionate nickname for...?"
[1]<Claire Brea> "We have a bit of a Moogle problem. Of the Kingly size."
[1]<Veluren Moonstriker> "This sounds like it will be interesting."
[1]<Elviane Lefebvre> "Does this, dumb Miqo'te have white hair?"
[1]<Claire Brea> "Yeah."
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "Please do not harm any moogles. Can get some orders of food to appease them. They do like wine."
[1]<Audrelle Arbeaux> "Moogles like wine?"
Veluren Moonstriker walks in and takes a seat on the bench with a heavy thud.
[1]<Elviane Lefebvre> "Something for you to share with a fuzzball friend, if you get one.
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "They like kupo nuts more, but do not have those sadly."
[1]<Claire Brea> "Z...I hate to tell you this, but uh...they threatened to kill us. We kinda have to beat down their king before he rampages on Gridania on the way to Limsa."
[1]<Claire Brea> "The whole Primal issue."
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "You are certain these are not glamoured rogues? Posing as moogles? Again?"
[1]<Veluren Moonstriker> "Again, what?"
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "...Long story."
[1]<Claire Brea> "...glamour---what the fuck kinda shit have you been dealing with lately, Z?"
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "Fortunately that remains firmly in the stable."
[1]<Claire Brea> "Whiskerwall Kupdi Koop showed up here demanding the pup back. Pup doesn't want to go. Something about Mooglesguard sacrificing other Moogles to Moogle Mog. So uh. Yeah. We're gonna go beat the King back into aether, and take the Mooglesguard to Kan-E."
[1]<Claire Brea> *pauses and adds* "Not precisely my choice of operation, but likely the best thing to keep Gridania happy."
[1]<Jordan Kennedy> <very static. mettalic echo> "Ah 'ells, I-... indisposed at-.....sendin-...don't be alarm-.... -likes pink n fuzzy-......rendezvous with ye at-.... over'n'-"
[1]<Claire Brea> "...pink and fuzzy?"
[1]<Claire Brea> "...pink and fuzzy?"
Audrelle Arbeaux lofts a brow at the conversation on the linkpearl.
[1]<Jordan Kennedy> "Always 'as, she- good scrapper... -nin will fill ye in-"
Veluren Moonstriker brings his sword into his lap and takes out a whetstone, then begins to sharpen it, "At this point, I know better than to question anything I hear over that pearl."
Elviane Lefebvre: "It'll save what's left of your sanity."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "I should take a similar approach as well."
Audrelle Arbeaux sighs. "But as my mother used to say: 'Curiosity killed the coeurl'."
Claire Brea shrugs. "I question it all, but no one said I was sane."
[1]<J'manji Vaih> <Mochi> "... I don't recommend it."
[1]<Claire Brea> "It was the only pink and fuzzy that came to mind."
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "Jordan? Um. Have you talked to Sami lately?"
[1]<J'manji Vaih> <Mocha> "YOU'RE SO MEAN."
[1]<J'manji Vaih> <Mochi> "... And that's where my last pearl disappeared to. Apologies."
[1]<Jordan Kennedy> "......-ho'd ye think i'd sen-..... she'll 'ug it to deat-..."
[1]<Zanin Briggs> "She might be going to see this giant moogle...apologies."
[1]<Claire Brea> "Ah. And I figured that it was Mitsu's arhiman that had it..."
[1]<J'manji Vaih> <Mochi> "We would only be so fortunate."
[1]<J'manji Vaih> <Mocha> "Rudest brother ever."
Claire Brea just shakes her head. "Well, that solves that," she mutters. "Anyroad. It seems we're going to have an interesting time of things. I finally got my hands on the report from the Scions encounter with the damn thing."
Claire Brea pauses again. "...Lalafell..."
Veluren Moonstriker: "Oh? And what can we expect from our encounter with his fluffiness?"
Claire Brea looks to Veluren. "Well, I have rather bad news."
Veluren Moonstriker: "This is unusual in what way?"
Claire Brea: "The Scion team discovered that the Mooglesguard and his Fluffiness, as you put it, are rather linked aethericly."
Claire Brea shrugs a shoulder once. "King Fluffybutt is incapable of being harmed while the Mooglesguard are conscious, however," she explains, "you can't just take down the Mooglesguard individually - if they drop independently, the good King just revives them."
Claire Brea: "And no one is harmed at all. It's like you've done jack all to 'em."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Well, that's a right pain in the neck."
Claire Brea: "After a bit of trial and error, the vaulted Warrior of Light's little scholar friend figured out that all of the Mooglesguard had to be knocked out rather simultaneously or in rapid succession, because then when the King attempted to revive them, he hurt his fluffy butt doing so."
Veluren Moonstriker: "Splitting off his own aether to keep them alive, oddly noble."
Claire Brea adds, "And it actually didn't work to revive them, it just kept them from dying, so then they could deal with the King without his protection."
Claire Brea: "However, once the King dissipated, his aether revived the Mooglesguard, and they fluttered off. So uh. Nets will have to be thrown over 'em mid-fight to keep that from happening."
Audrelle Arbeaux blinks.
Claire Brea blinks back at Audrelle. "You know, once they're all passed out. We throw nets over them."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "I realize what you're saying, but it's not often I would hear something like that as a battle plan."
Audrelle Arbeaux shakes her head. "You have to remember what kind of society I came from."
Veluren Moonstriker: "We can't just knock 'em around a bit more? I think it'd be easier to take them back to Gridania if they're still unconscious."
Claire Brea: "Look, I agreed not to wipe their Tempered little butts out and instead agreed to take them to Kan-e-Senna. Lin made me agree after reading the report that we'd capture 'em, so uh...nets."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "And if they awaken while we have them in the nets?"
Claire Brea shrugs a shoulder. "We could knock 'em back out afterward, but they'll flutter off after the surge of aether. Report said it fully revived them."
Elviane Lefebvre: "I've got a blackjack I could use on them if such a thing happened?"
Audrelle Arbeaux: "El, dear... While this is technically Whack-a-Moogle, you would have too much fun with such a thing."
Elviane Lefebvre shrugs at Audrelle Arbeaux.
Elviane Lefebvre: "I neither confirm nor deny such a possibility."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Which translates into a yes for me."
Claire Brea shrugs once more. "I tested it on Mogchi a while back, sorta. Netting a Moogle makes it too hard for them to fly. Even if they're awake, they're not getting away. At that point, we can use chloriform to knock 'em out."
Elviane Lefebvre: "Think as you will."
Veluren Moonstriker: "Chloriform is such a boring solution, but if you say so."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Whatever is effective, I suppose."
Audrelle Arbeaux drums her fingers against her tome. "Would likely be safer than bashing their heads in to keep them unconscious."
Claire Brea: "So, pick up a net or two on your way out the door. I'll have extra for any stragglers."
Veluren Moonstriker: "And just to make sure, this Moogle king is going to be a veritable feast of aether, correct?"
Claire Brea shrugs a shoulder. "Probably not as much as a real Primal with an entire race worshipping him properly, but yeah, more than your average aetheric construct."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Just how big is this Moogle king?"
Veluren Moonstriker: "Good, I suppose it's worth taking my arrow then."
Elviane Lefebvre: "I'm sure you could make a bed from his fluff."
Claire Brea: "Tall as me, fat as maybe two Turk's if Reborn were made of all flab?"
Claire Brea shrugs once. "Maybe taller? They weren't so specific with dimensions."
Elviane Lefebvre: "No, you can't take it home."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Merely curiou - ...."
Audrelle Arbeaux slowly glances at El.
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Excuse you. I do not plan on taking anything home."
Elviane Lefebvre: "Whatever you say Mooglenut."
Claire Brea: "If you really want a Moogle of your own, we can ask the Chieftan if there's any adventurous ones in the Twelveswood later."
Audrelle Arbeaux huffs at El. "I am not a mooglenut. I simply find those creatures rather cute. Am I not allowed to find things cute?"
Elviane Lefebvre grins. "And your menagerie only grows with an adventerous moogle."
Claire Brea waves a hand at Audrelle and Elviane. "Or you two can try to take the Kid off Tierell's hands. He comes with a Moogle pup and a whole slew of aetherical creatures."
Elviane Lefebvre: "Claire, we already have one feline in the house, we don't need another. Besides, I hate having to censor myself."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "El would break him with her foul mouth."
Claire Brea blinks. "I did not need those visuals, Lefebre."
Veluren Moonstriker just claps four times in a slow, rythmic fashion.
Elviane Lefebvre: "What bookworm said Claire... Now I know where your mind always is."
Audrelle Arbeaux pinches the bridge of her nose. "Never bloody mind."
Claire Brea blinks again. "Elvaine...the Kid hangs out with Zak. Words aren't going to phase him. It's the visuals that give him the bloody nose."
Audrelle Arbeaux: "Six thousand things running through my head right now. I'd rather not have any more."
Elviane Lefebvre huffs. "He already did when I showed up from my workshop the other sun."
Claire Brea motions once at Elviane. "Exactly."
Claire Brea: "Anyroad. Such things aside, no, Audrelle. No trying to keep Primals as pets. Take the Miqo'te Kid and his menagerie instead. And--" She stops and looks at the new Miqo'te.
Sami Sondraix pokes a head in, "Um, hello?"
Elviane Lefebvre: "That's, a new face."
Claire Brea raises her unscarred eyebrow. "Can I help you?"
Sami Sondraix thinks for a moment.
Sami Sondraix: "Um, like, you needed some help with like a big moogle or some junk? I asked Zanin, but like he wasn't being real clear."
Sami Sondraix sighs, "Mom wasn;t much help either. It's like she was talking from a cave or like one of those Garlean walkers, like, ate her or some junk."
Claire Brea blinks at Sami. "Yeah, a bit. Guessing you're Sami?"
Sami Sondraix nods. "Yep!"
Sami Sondraix waves to Elviane Lefebvre.
Claire Brea: "Have a seat quick, and let me explain..."
Sami Sondraix nods and walks, almost skips to a seat.
Claire Brea pauses then says, "No, there is too much, let me sum up."
Claire Brea: "Yeah, there's a giant Moogle, essentially a Primal who is supposedly their ancient King. Seven Moogles that believe they are his guard summoned him. They're sorta all aethericly tied - can't harm the King if they guard are awake, but the guard can't be taken down individually cus the King revives them, so they all have to be knocked down at once."
Claire Brea points at a box near the door. "Once they are knocked out, the guard need to have nets tossed over 'em, while we're still fighting the King, cus once we finish the King, his aether dissipating will wake 'em all up and they'll go fluttering off."
Claire Brea: "And we kinda need to take the lot of 'em back to Gridania to Kan-E-Senna and the Moogle Chieftan."
Sami Sondraix thinks for a moment. "Seven moogles... okay so i only have, like, four limbs. Well I mean like I could, like, use my tail too, but like I haven;t trained with it and stuff and it's more like counterbalance anyway and junk? I should be able to help knock 'em out in like two go arounds, like I guess? I mean they're just floof and , like, toebeans and stuff right?"
Elviane Lefebvre just shakes her head, mumbling lowly. "I think I've found someone worse then Audry."
Veluren Moonstriker: "Why do I suddenly feel like our odds of success are slim?"
Audrelle Arbeaux has her tome opened and is reading. Whether or not she is actually paying attention to the conversations around her remains to be seen.
Claire Brea stares at Sami for a moment. "Uh. These are actually combat trained Moogles. They're just as good of fighters as most adventurers are, possibly better than most adventurers. The Scions even had difficulty with them - we're ahead of the game only because we have the Scion's report to build off of."
Claire Brea: "So we don't have to figure out the Moogles are aethericly linked, for example."
Sami Sondraix sighs. "That what, like, I was afraid of. I like had dreams of floof and hugs and punchies and junk, too..."
Claire Brea shakes her head. "No, no hugs with these ones. Not unless you're meaning to suplex one."
Trixie Trinity: "So what exactly is going on here?"
Veluren Moonstriker: "Homocidal moogles."
Trixie Trinity: "And why did I hear something about moogles?"
Sami Sondraix 's eyes brighten. "OOH! Suplexes are like hugs you can, like, give your enemies. I like that."
Claire Brea looks at Trinity. "We might have pissed of some Tempered Moogles who've sinced started trying to summon the ancient King of their bedtime stories to rampage over here and kill us - so we're preemptively heading over there to stop them, capture them, and take them to the Gridanians."
Trixie Trinity: "Sounds like fun."
Trixie Trinity: "Much better than eating a meal for some test."
Claire Brea slowly looks at Sami, deadpans, and nods once. "Or your wayward sons when they don't bother contacting you for years."
Sami Sondraix shrugs, "Don't have kids yet so I like can't say. But I like suplexed my husband like a few times and junk."
Claire Brea looks back to Trinity. "Eh. Not everything is being big damn heroes around here. I actually think the Gridanian's might be a bit upset at the fact that the Kid kidnapped a Moogle first and provoked all this. But, long and short is we have to go stop them before they actually summon the thing by sacraficing other Moogles to it."
Claire Brea: "Which is kind of the crux of the issue to begin with."
Claire Brea looks at Elviane. "Speaking of, when we arrive, you and I will be making sure those Moogles get released."
Trixie Trinity: "To fight a Primal again sounds good to me."
Elviane Lefebvre: "Sure~ Long as they aren't as bad as the one that Kym'a keep company with."
Claire Brea: "Look, I have no idea where that Moogle learned it's manners, aside from the time he's spent with Zak. It was bad before that though, it got worse after."
Claire Brea motions to the box by the door. "Anyroad. Everyone grab a net to throw on the Mooglesguard once they're all knocked out, and we'll get on our way to this Thornmarch."
Sami Sondraix: "Alright! Like, let's do this!"
Trixie Trinity: "Why do we have to use a net? No one has the arms to drag them?
Claire Brea looks at Trinity. "When the King dissipates, his aether will revive them, and the little fuzzy fucks will flutter off."
Audrelle Arbeaux snaps her tome shut and walks out of the door.
Claire Brea: "The nets keep them from doing so."
Trixie Trinity: "Then keep them in a stranglehold. I'll lead by example."
Claire Brea: "No, we'll be dealing with an active King after that."
Claire Brea motions to the door. "I'll explain on the way."
Trixie Trinity shrugs.
OOC:
This was the RP that took place in game at our FC hall; a Google doc has this too.The rest of this encounter is still taking place via RPnow.net and will be posted once it has finished. <3
