Alpha
It’s quite the flight over the Ruby Sea. They race on chocobos together, laughing and catching currents. Lin tries to make a game of who can go higher, but before long, it would push their arrival later than she would like.
It’s dinner time when they reach their location, Reunion.
“I can never thank you enough for this Lin,” G’raha says, smile still wide from the flight. “I always felt like I missed my chance back in Norvrandt. The world there was beautiful, yes, and I miss the people every day, but it was all Eorzea. And not even all of it. There were so many places to go that I couldn’t.”
“Well,” Lin says. She has a smirk on her face as she backs towards a buuz stand. “I know you still love Allagan artifacts. Did you know there are some here in the Steppe? And even the Burn a few bells out.”
G’raha’s eyes go big. He quickly covers the distance and kisses her. She can feel his tail swish in so much excitement it fans her legs.
A motion she returns, her hand curling into his braid, other hand on his hip, her tail curling around his leg.
“You know the way to my heart,” he says when he pulls away. “Travel and Allagan ruins.” She can feel his stomach growl. “And food. So, what is this here?’
Lin orders a few different kinds of buuz for both of them, and lets him wander the stalls with her. While many stands have closed for the day, many others stay open still. However, as they start to make their way to the merchants’ tent, G’raha stops and looks in one direction.
Her tail swishes as she looks in the same direction. It takes her few seconds until she notices what he’s looking at. A chocobo-like creature, about a yalm tall, dressed in the Ironworks’s uniform. A silvery mechanical bug-like mammet at their heels. “Alpha! How fare your journeys friend!”
She hears a Kweh and a greeting at the same time as the chocobo walks up to her. They look at G’raha, who still watches, his mouth wide in shock. “Ah, this is a friend of mine. I don’t think he knows what--”
G’raha cuts her off and falls to his knees, hugging Alpha. “Oh, gods, it’s been so long my friend. I remember you and Omega survived, and I was the first to learn they managed to have their consciousness in your model friend after centuries.”
Alpha kwehs in confusion.
Lin tries to figure out what he’s saying. “Oh, yes, with the Tycoon you must have known about my fight with Ome-- did you just say I didn’t kill it?”
She watches as G’raha looks to her. “Ah, erm... I did not realize such was a, but I did notice that the model was more sapient than it let on.” He pets Alpha a few times. “But I can assure you that Omega poses no threat any longer. They only wish to observe the world as it is.”
Alpha kwehs again, less surprised, and perfectly accepting of G’raha’s affection. And no shock at Omega existing in their companion.
“Ah, I suppose I have a story to tell you both then. This is G’raha, a friend. Well, a bit more than a friend, but a friend nonetheless.”
She helps G’raha stand up and the three -- four -- of them make their way to the tent together as she starts telling the tale of the Eighth Umbral Calamity.