I Am Thou

[vieraofinaba]

It had been some time since Yua's adventure into the First, now with the land trying to find a way to rebuild after the return of the night sky. Perhaps it was because of it, she has a new appreciation of the beauty of the stars, the color of the skies when the light vanishes for the time. And Yua has been wandering more around Eorzea during the night taking in the sights.

It's when she is around Mor Dhona that during one of her trips, there is something that catches her eye: a very large tentacled creature slithering around like a serpent with a gaping jaw.

"That's odd, I haven't heard of a Hunt Mark like that one-" She stops in mid sentence because the voidsent doesn't even bother to take notice of her but rather a figure lying on the ground. She can't tell who it is from where she is standing but that does not mean the viera woman will simply stand there. Unhooking her chakrams from her belt, she dashes forward and throws them at the monster's eyes.

"Hey Ugly! Over here!"

Yua couldn't think of a snappier comeback, there's more important things like making sure that guy who is lying there doesn't get hurt.

"Who on earth would even be out here around something like this?"

Comments

[angeloftruth]

"Mammets that she no doubt had made to record that sort of information," he grumbles. "She's terrible, Yua. You can do better."

[vieraofinaba]

"...what kind of information would she get from your measurements?"

[angeloftruth]

"Is the art of creating properly sized mammets to jinx and curse lost in this age?"

[vieraofinaba]

"If you mean curses as in the not so polite way then those exist. But then again, Sharlyans and Allagans."

[angeloftruth]

"No, I mean in the "painful magical" variety. What do Sharlyans have to do with anything?"

[vieraofinaba]

"I've been on the other end of those mammets of theirs; they do indeed hurt."

Hello Antitower.

[angeloftruth]

"Still not what I'm talking about." He sighs. "I forget how long ago it started, but at one point it was very common to see people cursing and harming lifelike mammets of their enemies to cause them pain and grief."

Voodoo. He means voodoo dolls.

[vieraofinaba]

Yua taps her chin in thought as she tries to parse out the information Emet is speaking of.

"Hmm, mammets that look like their enemies but can cause pain...oh! You mean like a voodoo doll? Those exist on Earth but the effectiveness can be argued."

[angeloftruth]

"A...I'm sorry, a what doll?"

[vieraofinaba]

"A voodoo doll. It sounds a lot like what you're describing except most of the dolls I heard of don't use metal. Depending on the country, the materials differ but the idea is the same. For example, where I'm from in Japan, they use a small wooden doll along with something of the person they want cursed, usually hair or something that belongs to them."

Should she bring up the ways to curse it? Nah.

"...so is it strange that we went from clothing to curse dolls?"

[angeloftruth]

"Only because you never had a conversation in Amaurot," he retorts. "That sort of wandering happened all the time."

[vieraofinaba]

"That sounds like a wild ride."

[angeloftruth]

"I once started a conversation discussing the current curriculum for children aged...well, essentially primary school aged and ended up ranting about the decline of Amaurotine opera for half an hour."

[vieraofinaba]

That got Yua to giggle, picturing the man going on a tangent. "So you've always loved the arts then. Those on the Prima Vista did mention how much of a patron you were."

[angeloftruth]

"Ah, the Prima Vista." You can hear the smile in Emet's voice as he pulls an outfit out of the wardrobe. "One of the best troupes since the Sundering, believe it or not. Always putting on interesting plays and never missed a chance to perform at my birthday. I still say "I Want To Be Your Canary" was one of their best plays."

[vieraofinaba]

Yua must have hit a good note at mentioning the performing troupe. It's been ages since she's seen Ramza and his family and what she remembers, he is less of a little shit after their adventure.

"I never saw that one. I did manage to see "The Zodiac Brave Story" while in Kugane, where they stay now. They have quite the following there and I can see why; it was absolutely amazing."

[angeloftruth]

"They're in Kugane now? I'll have to make a trip to see them, then." He misses their work, if he's honest. It was very good for mortal creations.

[vieraofinaba]

"They kind of had to. According to them, Varis started going overboard with censorship and the founder refused to go along with it. So they went to Kugane and the city refused to turn them in." Spoken with a grin.

"But the one you mentioned..."I Want To Be Your Canary"? What's that one about?"

[angeloftruth]

Emet sighs. "Out of all my descendants, I had so hoped for any of them but Varis to take the throne. Yes, he loves his country but he's so dull, and his son is insane." He'd warned his son about marrying that woman, but had he listened? Of course not.

"It's a tragedy, about the young princess Cornelia and her ill-fated romance with a peasant Marcus. Cornelia is meant to marry a foreign prince to stop a war, neither Marcus nor Cornelia are having it, and it ends with Cornelia dead by her father's misaimed sword and Marcus dead by his own hand. Or in prison, the ending can vary."

[vieraofinaba]

"Mmmm, Zenos is...something." Yua can't help but side eye, unable to get the idea of someone being so damn turned on by fighting. So he was fight-sexual or something?

But then, Yua hears the tragic tale of the two lovers. At first, her thoughts are of sadness because indeed that is a horrible way to go. "And so the only way for the two to be together again is in death?"

It reminds her of Romeo and Juliet almost...except they took their own lives and not by someone else.

[angeloftruth]

"That's it exactly." They're not talking about his great-grandson. He hates Zenos. "I always loved it."

[vieraofinaba]

No complaints here.

"If you would have asked me while I was still a teenager, I would have not gotten the message behind the story and only think of what it said at face value. To only see the tragedy and not know that there are some things that do transcend boundaries."

[angeloftruth]

"...how old are you?" He swore she was fairly young.

[vieraofinaba]

Compared to him, she is.

"Well, I'm 26 years old now. Still young to some but considered an adult." Yua has to look back at when she started this crazy trip through worlds; started at 18 when she was heading back to Tokyo from Inaba so that would be almost ten years ago.

[angeloftruth]

"Twenty-six?!" What. Emet-Selch just gives Yua a baffled look. "Truly?"