out into the unknown (march catch-all)

[funbreaker]

Who: Thancred Waters & others
When: Throughout March
Where: Thorne & the Horizon
What: Eclipse stuff, quest stuff, Horizon stuff, anything and everything.
Warnings: Will add if something comes up.


[ Starters will be placed in comments below! If you'd like to do anything with Thancred this month, please reach out at demonology, demonology#1725 on Discord, or by PM. ]

Comments

[supersoldier]

[Sephiroth’s body language eases, if only fractionally. This man—not a face he recognizes—moves closer in a vaguely non-threatening way, and his shoulders relax incrementally. Though he still yet remains planted to the spot, unwilling to budge via request should it come. Self-important, indeed.]

A visitor. [He says it plainly, the hardened edges of his tone receding slightly, though still indelicate enough to betray his curiosity.]

Is this supposed to be a representation of your home?

[Maybe this is hypocritical since his own domain has a vast array of stairs that seemingly go on forever, trapping potential wayward wanderers in it as though to dissuade their presences there. But Sephiroth lacks that kind of self-awareness, and that he’s spent so much time wandering, getting nowhere, is an affront more egregious when he has to suffer through it.]

Endless alleys that lead to nowhere?

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred lets out a small chuckle at the question, realizing that it's a reasonable one. Yet if he's honest, there is some bit of home in these dark paths, as strange as they might seem at first glance. In any city he's visited, he has always made a point of exploring its dark, tucked-away corners, the places that weren't mean to be seen. It's the rogue in him, which will never quite leave him despite the fact that he has picked up the gunblade. ]

Some of them do resemble places from home, but I suppose it would make more sense to think of this as a security measure of sorts.

[ He takes a look around them, and as he does so some warm torchlight appears on the walls, glowing from sconces that had not been there a moment before. It does make the space slightly more inviting, though there still isn't much to see or do here, which is by design.

Thancred turns back to the stranger and then gestures down the alleyway past them. ] There is more to my domain than this. If you're curious. [ He doesn't mind bringing people in, so long as he is here to supervise. ]

[supersoldier]

[A security measure? His eyes trace along the alleyway's path, understanding this man's meaning in a disappointingly belated way. So, the endless walking and winding were purposeful, a clever way to dissuade those who arrive without an invitation. Much like Sephiroth himself. Where he thought he would make progress through stubbornness alone, he only wasted time gong nowhere at all.

His expression remains unimpressed as the torchlight adds warmth along the alley walls, chasing the particularly darkest corners away. He considers the invite--is that not what is, essentially?--and replies evenly.]

Do you have a name?

[If this is another Summoned, which it must be, it is not someone he recognizes. Sephiroth, in his own way, is pressing for an exchange of information -- or at least a passable introduction, his own bid at impressing some manner of control in a domain that's been pulling him this way and that, without any agency of exploration.

The way he steps forward, however, at least belies some interest. That yes, maybe he does want to see the rest.]

[funbreaker]

[ Given that question, odd as the phrasing might be, and the man's slow steps forward, it does seem that Thancred's captured his interest. He gives a small nod and gestures for the stranger to follow him, sending a quick glance back with a wry smile as he moves along. ]

Don't most people? [ He will concede that there might be rare cases where someone doesn't have a name, or isn't given a proper one. Ryne had been Minfilia before he named her, but it hadn't truly been her name. As just one example. ]

Thancred Waters. [ He lifts one hand up in a half-wave, but continues through the cramped twists and turns of the alleyways with sure steps. ] Now, do you have one? You've left me in suspense.

[supersoldier]

[An awkwardly phrased question, its original intent would've been clearer if the man who asked it wasn't so stilted. But Sephiroth is nothing but filled to the brim with truncated replies and short observations -- the request for an exchange of names is instead interpreted as him asking if this man possesses one at all which is. Certainly a thing to ask.

But he does not reply to the Don't most people? remark, finding it more effort than it's worth to properly clarify. And so, as they walk, casting long shadows along the alleyways-]

Sephiroth.

[No last name given.]

From the Free Cities.

[Or rather, that is where he's currently stationed; and follow that logic, it is clearly the faction that summoned him, as well.]

[funbreaker]

[ It feels like more often than not, the people he encounters in the Horizon are from the Free Cities. Based on the mental tallies he'd made while at the summit, it makes sense. There's no denying that the grand majority of Summoned are there when compared to the other two factions.

Yet it's that name that truly captures Thancred's attention and he skids to a halt, his boots scraping against the cobblestone beneath them. ]

Sephirot?

[ He takes a look at the other man's face, partly shrouded by his hair, as if it might offer clarification. Thancred's only heard tales about Sephirot as a member of the Warring Triad, a god worshipped by the natives of Meracydia before he'd been used as a primal energy source by the Allagans. Surely there can be no connection, but it trips him up for a moment all the same. ]

Ah, apologies. I'm not accustomed to hearing familiar names from other Summoned here.

[ He gives a little shake of his head and continues walking. ]

[supersoldier]

[It’s the first time his name has garnered any kind of reaction relating to recognition, rather than simple befuddlement at how odd it is to most. But this is not the kind of recognition that Sephiroth is used to, seen in Thancred’s searching gaze and sudden halt to his gait, though he cannot quite ascertain why that is.]

Sephiroth.

[Naturally, it’s impossible not to seek clarification.]

You don’t look like someone from Gaia.

[A domain is a reflection of a Summoned’s home, or so he’s gathered. This is unlike anything that he’s ever seen on his own planet, a touch of something too archaic for recognition, and that isn’t to say anything about Thancred’s clothing. He falls back into step, but not without a question on his tongue.]

How is it familiar to you?

[funbreaker]

[ Sephiroth? Another familiar name comes up when the stranger mentions Gaia, but whereas that appears to be the name of his home star, Thancred recognizes it as belonging to the pain-in-his-rear girl who'd befriended Ryne. The Oracle of Darkness, and based on what Himeka told him, a reborn Ascian besides. ]

Not familiar at all, it seems. The star I'm from is called Hydaelyn.

[ With so many similar names already established between them, Thancred cannot help but wonder if this Sephiroth comes from yet another of the Source's shards, one of them which has yet to be rejoined.

As they continue, the dark streets morph and the scenery around them shifts. It's still dim out, but they are now in the wooded portion of Old Sharlayan, near the Studium, with a stone path leading toward a bridge that arcs over a gently flowing river. White stone buildings are nestled beyond the trees, some larger than others. ]

This is a portion of one of its city-states, Old Sharlayan. [ Thancred halts then and turns back to Sephiroth, head canted to one side. ] And I can only assume that means nothing to you.

[ This man, even with his long hair and somewhat unsettling eyes, does not strike Thancred as some sort of god or primal. ]

[supersoldier]

[No. The names are as foreign as he expected, wandering down the path which changes into more unfamiliar sights. The ambiance of their surroundings appear to lose some unseen weight, however, moving from winding alleyways to a stone bridge with clear, flowing water just beneath them.

He spares a glance over the edge, his curiosity betraying his stare otherwise fixed ahead of them. He isn't quite sure if he should let the matter go just like that, but perhaps in some faraway land, it is not so wild an assumption to believe that his name is not as unusual as believed.]

No. It means nothing at all.

[Easy confirmation.]

This is already nothing like my city. There are far too many… trees.

[A wooded area? Within Midgar's confines? Absolutely not.]

[funbreaker]

[ Then it's possible they have already exhausted any of the similarities between their stars, but that remains to be seen. Thancred can't imagine what he should try to mention next. Primals? Adventuring guilds? They could go down an entire list.

The remark about there being too many trees causes him to cock an eyebrow. ]

Then where you're from must be rather dreary.

[ Granted, Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah don't have an abundance of trees, but they do have other things going for them. Sephiroth's city, as he calls it, might be the same. ]

Or am I too hasty in my assumptions?