Waku/Floria - Shit-talking

Floria Aerinus: Hello!
Floria Aerinus is staring at Waku cheerfully.
Waku Motohama leans against the railing, one hand propping up her chin as she stares at the foaming spurts of white spray over the boulders at the waterfall's base. Tapping her finger against the railing, she - grabs onto it and whips her torso around, clearly looking like she's ready to vault over it should anyone try to stab her. However, all she's treated to is... this?
Waku Motohama smiles just as cheerfully back. "Well, hello."
Floria Aerinus is staring at Waku cheerfully.
Floria Aerinus is smiling warmly, with one eyebrow slightly depressed, in an expression that straddles the line between thoughtful and curious. "Oh, I'm sorry if I crept up on you a bit, there. It's a bad habit."
Floria Aerinus hesitates, then frowns, looking down at herself. "Ah, hells... It's happened again. No matter how much I practice, I never seem to get any better at it..."
Floria Aerinus: Sorry, could you give me just a moment?
Waku Motohama maintains her cheerful tone and smile. It is very pointy. "You know, I'm trying desperately to think of a unique answer to give you here, but - "
Waku Motohama: ...
Floria Aerinus: That's better! Sorry about that.
Waku Motohama: That's one way of changing for the weather.
Floria Aerinus frowns pensively, and makes a dismissive gesture. "Oh, it's nothing so impressive - just cosmetics. I can't get my glamours to hold up quite properly whenever I teleport. They always end up losing colour, or _gaining_ colour, or, uh, gaining other, more inconvenient things."
Floria Aerinus: I swear, after six years of practice...
Floria Aerinus pushes her lips back into a smile, crossing her arms. "Well, it's of no concequence, I suppose. As I was saying, I'm very sorry to bother you like this."
Waku Motohama stares at her once more. "Well, your glamours are quite pretty. Neat trick though. Something I can help you with?"
Floria Aerinus looks confused for a moment, then her eyes widen a bit. "Oh, right! Goodness, I got so preoccupied I forgot what I even came here for." She taps her hand against her head. "Typical, huh?"
Floria Aerinus: Sorry, sorry.
Waku Motohama: I gotta say, if you're about to murder me, this is the most entertaining delivery I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing, so lay it on me.
Floria Aerinus tilts her head slightly to the side. "_Murder_ you? I didn't think I was coming across that strong."
Floria Aerinus: You're, uh... Um...
Floria Aerinus reaches into one of her bags, and roots around for a moment, eventually withdrawing a small leather notebook. She flips between the pages in a casual, elegant motion, before eventually stopping. "Waku Motohama, right? Mo To Ha Ma."
Waku Motohama: I've had a pretty weird few weeks. You've got the right of it, though. And you are?
Floria Aerinus contemplates the question for a moment, then snaps the notebook shut in a firm, swift motion. "I'm Floria, though that name probably doesn't mean a lot to you. I'm really relieved that I got the right person; I ambushed another white-haired Raen on the way here. It was a little awkward."
Floria Aerinus puts up a hand, letting out a awkward laugh. "Don't take that the wrong way; that's not me being all Hyury and saying you all look alike, or anything. It was from behind, too, you understand."
Waku Motohama: It's really more of a light green, if we're being honest, but it's hard to throw a rock at a gaggle of raen without hitting one that's got white locks, so I don't blame you for the mistake. Floria, eh? Pleasure to be in your company, then.
Floria Aerinus smiles brightly. "The pleasure is all mine!"
Waku Motohama: Now now, don't go hogging it all now. So... what can I help you with, Miss Floria?
Floria Aerinus leans against the side of the pillar casually. "Tch, this is troublesome. How to get to the point without coming across the wrong way..."
Floria Aerinus: Does the name "Susan Brown" ring any bells, with you?
Waku Motohama: Look, I'm pretty congenial and willing to give you the benefit of the doubt considering that you haven't yet tried to stab me, burn me, drown me, suffocate me, or really generally do anything awful to me. So...
Waku Motohama: ...Aha, it sure does.
Waku Motohama: Am I speaking to the lady herself, then? Or an associate?
Floria Aerinus looks impressed. "Wow, you have a pretty good memory." She bites her lip. "But, I guess that's something of a vocational necessity."
Floria Aerinus: Oh, and you're on the nose with your first guess. I'm "Susan Brown".
Floria Aerinus hesitates, biting her lip. "Well... Sort of. It's a bit complicated. Needless to say, though, I'm your contact."
Waku Motohama: Always figured it was fake - I mean, why wouldn't you use a fake? - but the social consequences for ever having mentioned it would have been too dire. Besides, it wasn't important. Can I ask what you mean by 'sort of', though?
Floria Aerinus makes a thoughtful sound. "It's a borrowed name. ...Though, can something really be called borrowed if you have no way of giving it back...?"
Floria Aerinus: A question for the philosophers, I suppose.
Floria Aerinus slaps her hands togther in front of her own face. "In any case," she says. "You stopped replying to my letters."
Waku Motohama tilts her head slightly. "I mean, there are plenty of Susan Browns in the world. Or at least, I feel like there should be; thinking back on it though, I keep meeting hyur with names like Light or Anastasia or," there's a pause, "Feyre, so really, I can't make much of a comment. Though, I suppose what I mean to say is..."
Waku Motohama: ...If you just smacked someone's name on yourself, that's more of an 'inspired' name, I'd say.
Waku Motohama sighs, straightening her postures and crossing her arms. "That I did, and I feel like I owe you an apology for that. I was taken out of the field rather suddenly awhile back, and in the scramble to put things back together, I started letting things... slip. I'd actually been about to write back when some light-addled Inquisitor type burned my house down and tried to kill me."
Waku Motohama: As I said, it's been a weird few weeks. How've you been keeping up, Miss Floria? You're not in any trouble, are you?
Floria Aerinus: Oh, you needn't worry about things like that. I can handle myself well enough, I think.
Waku Motohama: It's only proper to check after you. You've done me a fair few good deals.
Floria Aerinus puts a finger to her lips, looking towards the wall. "I must confess I knew a little bit about all that already, though. You've probably inferred as much by the fact that I'm here at all, I should think. I was curious about your sudden vanishing act that I ended up looking into it, and, well, you know how these things tend to go..."
Floria Aerinus: Ah, I told a little lie, there. I said "curious" but, to tell the truth, it was a tiny bit inconvenient for me.
Floria Aerinus: So perhaps I was feeling a bit ansty.
Floria Aerinus makes a noise that straddles the line between a chuckle and a giggle, and is difficult to classify. "Not, of course, to blame you for your own frustrations and misfortune."
Waku Motohama: Well, most people don't go stalking their absentee pen pals because they're totally fine and dandy with the situation, even given the nature of our correspondance. Not that I'm not happy to see you, mind.
Waku Motohama: You'd be warranted. Could have at least said, "Not dead, I'm just cleaning up a few messes". You said you can take care of yourself, but I hope the inconvienience hasn't put you in a particularly tight spot or anything?
Floria Aerinus looks to her. "Well, you don't seem especially naive, so I assume you had inferred I wasn't helping you entirely on a selfless basis. A tight spot?" She shakes her head. "Nothing like that."
Floria Aerinus: Merely, there were some people it was convenient for you to know about, so to speak.
Floria Aerinus shakes her head. "It's all a dreadful mess, working in an envrionment like that. So many people with so many weird agendas. I don't know how people muster the patience to do it for their whole lives."
Waku Motohama: Hah, of course I didn't. Mutually taking care of each other's problems, right? I just wanted to know if my inability to take direct action meant that a problem of yours got too troublesome. Coming to track me down is a little drastic, if I may so so myself, and I sort of doubt you've any manner of emotional attachment to me...
Floria Aerinus: Well, I only just met you.
Waku Motohama: My most likely guess was that whatever trouble it'd take to find me outweighed whatever trouble it'd take to find another solution to said problems, which says some things about the nature of them. Unless you just felt like the walk, I suppose.
Waku Motohama: Not like I'm complaining, mind.
Floria Aerinus moves away from the pillar. "That's not a bad guess, but you're a little off. Initially, I was hoping to just re-establish contact with you in the hopes we could still work together, but by the time I found you were no longer with the Blades, it was already obvious our old arrangement was de-facto defunct, no matter what the outcome. At that point, it was just... Curiosity? Sunk cost?"
Floria Aerinus strolls over to the railing.
Floria Aerinus: Hyup.
Floria Aerinus perches herself on it.
Floria Aerinus: You know the sunk-cost fallacy, right? You seem educated.
Waku Motohama: It's not entirely defunct. I've gone to working for myself, as it were. Independent contracting if you'd like to put a word on it. I still have plenty of contact in the Blades that call me in from time to time, not to mention the resources I've got elsewhere. It's just on a less... official basis. But I am aware of what you're referring to.
Waku Motohama: I don't think its entirely illogical in this case, if the effort to find me didn't outweigh the potential of benefit to you. Things aren't so one-dimensional that my only use in our arrangement was my official employment status.
Floria Aerinus contemplates this, putting a finger to her lips. "I suppose that's true. It's nice to have someone in the Blades directly, though, when dealing with this sort of thing. It's such a ponderous organization, and moving money around is so fast and easy when you already have a lot of it."
Floria Aerinus: Forgive me, though! I'm not trying to downplay your skills, or anything like that. ...Still, though... From what I could tell, it seems like you're in a bit of a bad spot at the moment.
Floria Aerinus: You talk about resources, but it doesn't seem you have a lot on hand right now!
Waku Motohama: Well, my current situation is a bit complicated, yes, though I'm hoping for that to not be a long-standing issue. It's been keeping me from my contract work, you see, and generally being useful. If you're in the mood to indulge your curiousity with a story, I'd be happy to share what I've been up to most presently speaking.
Waku Motohama: It is, by all accounts, beyond the pale of insanity.
Floria Aerinus: Sure! I love to hear stories.
Floria Aerinus smiles toothily.
Waku Motohama: Right, well. Simply put, I left the Brass Blades because I was getting a bit too antsy having to watch my back all the time, and one particularly unfortunate individual escalated a long-standing conflict into... an untenable arrangement. Initially, I'd been focused on trying to undermine his own position so he'd get the boot and I could come back, but over time, that became less and less likely, and instead, I simply cut my losses and made independent arrangements with those I could trust -
Waku Motohama: along with reaching out to old allies in the Yellowjackets and eyeing up any potential job opportunities in Gridania. This was a pretty hectic time, leading to the lapse in replies as I quite genuinely wasn't sure how my lot would look from week to week as I sussed out who was trustworthy and who was not among my associates. I also began to look into the expansive network of Free Companies about, seeing if I could find something promising there, and woman I'd hired a few times as a bodyguard -
Waku Motohama: - talked hers up to the moon, so I thought I'd toss my chips in with them. Do some networking. Adventurers are useful, and this one was a general, 'oh yes, let's protect Eorzea!' sort of operation, so I thought it couldn't do much harm.
Waku Motohama sighs. "That was a moon ago."
Floria Aerinus scratches the side of her head. "I'd picked up on bits and pieces of that. I heard some of your reasoning for leaving the Blades from another member - they seemed quite unhappy about you, incidentally - and some some paperwork about you joining a Free Company."
Floria Aerinus: It sounds like you might have got conned a little bit, though. You can count the amount of those organizations that are actually devoted to heroic purpose on your fingers and toes.
Floria Aerinus: Everyone wants to be a Warrior of Light and go around vanquishing villains, but it doesn't pay the rent very well!
Waku Motohama sighs. "I'll save you the trouble of asking any more of my former colleagues why I left; yes, it was for sexual harassment charges, yes, nothing shook out in my favor and, no, I don't want to talk about the specifics. It's not a particularly interesting story. Regardless." Waku can't help but bark out a laugh.
Waku Motohama: Believe me, I'm well aware of the dubious nature of Free Companies. I had absolutely no expectations that any of these people would be charitable, upstanding justice-doers, but I thought they'd be interesting enough for my purposes and maybe I could find a couple of good ones out of the chaff of hapless idiots.
Waku Motohama: ...I mean, it would have been /nice/ if they were, but despite certain allegations that have been made about me, I'm not a hopeless optimist. Just a stubborn one.
Floria Aerinus smiles brightly. "It's good to be optimistic! So long as the rational part of your brain can keep it tempered. My mother used to always say that your smile has to serve you, not the other way around."
Floria Aerinus: I hadn't heard anything that specific about your resignation, though! That doesn't surprise me, though. Ul'Dah is a whole city full of perverts and lechers.
Floria Aerinus: I used to do deliveries there. It's a grotesque affair.
Waku Motohama: Your hypothetical mother has good taste. A smile is an excellent form of resistance, not a thing to be worn offhandedly without much thought to its presence.
Waku Motohama: Anyway. So, I join this Free Company; Knights of Eorzea, which is a pretty ominous name if you ask me, but also, it was somehow better than seventy-five percent of the listings, at least a solid forty of which I was fairly certain were fronts for brothels, and I had someone directly vouching for it so... Why not, right? And the first week goes pretty alright, generally speaking, though in that week at least three people casually mention criminal activity that I could have gotten arrested them -
Waku Motohama: - for, one man casually claimed to be able to dissipate into the aether before leaving mysteriously, half the leadership got kidnapped or... something, and I engaged in a two-hour long impassioned debate about the validity of turning the entire house into a bomb in case of emergency. Which I won. And she thanked me for. She's actually pretty clever, though every time I speak to her I feel like an idiot child who needs to learn far more about math, physics, dimensional constructs, and if she's -
Waku Motohama: actually entirely insane in her plans to use fractals, math, and Atomos as a form of non aetheryte-based teleportation.
Waku Motohama: But, you know, I'd actually come to like some of the less blatantly insane ones on a more personal level, and there's one gal from Ishgard who is... Well. You know how they are.
Waku Motohama pauses. "Competent."
Floria Aerinus seems to ignore Waku's final, forboding implication. "Wait, so he just boasted that he can teleport? That doesn't seem very impressive."
Floria Aerinus: Anyone can do that.
Floria Aerinus has latched onto this, for some reason.
Waku Motohama: No, I meant, like. Just. Live there for awhile.
Waku Motohama: Like he can just disappate into aether and like. Be aether. Or something. Like its a vacation home.
Floria Aerinus: Well, that's nothing more than teleporting, but taking your time about it.
Floria Aerinus: I can't appreciate people who try to act vainglorious about their inability to do something properly.
Waku Motohama: Yeah, I don't know. After that he was parading about whining about his... aether... disappating or something? I
Waku Motohama: You know. Adventurers, right?
Floria Aerinus: In my experience, men are always whining about their aether dissipating. I simply tune it out; if it's such a bother, they should get a herbal remedy, not go on about it ad nauseam.
Floria Aerinus: That does sound frustrating, in any event.
Waku Motohama bursts out laughing. "Hah! Oh, that gives me a wonderful idea for something to place in his satchel next time he leaves it unattended. Ah well - mild enough annoyances, access to some actual competent and enjoyable individuals I could use to broaden my network of associates, and a rather nice company house to boot... Things were going pretty well! Until we got a letter from the... okay, hold on. Let's see if I can say this without laughing.
Waku Motohama clears her throat. "The Swords of Salvation, which is the military division of the Inquisitors of the Astral Light."
Waku Motohama manages to keep a mostly straight face, though the slight flick of her tail suggests the effort. "Pretty grandiose, right?"
Floria Aerinus furrows her brow. "That does seem like a bit of a silly name, yes."
Floria Aerinus: I mean, for one thing, every respectable contemporary scholar knows that light aether charged umbrally.
Floria Aerinus: ((*that light _is_ aether charged umbrally
Floria Aerinus: This is a good story. Who are they affiliated with? What are they inquisiting, exactly?
Waku Motohama: I know, right? And they referred to their letter as an epistle.
Floria Aerinus: Oh, I hate when I get that in my teeth.
Floria Aerinus runs her tongue around her gums.
Waku Motohama grins. "Okay. So, this all gets a little weird and hazy - I was literally given about two days notice about these Inquisitors visiting, and one of them I had to spend convincing people that while it was, in fact, perfectly permissable to tape swords underneath your kitchen counter in a paranoid gambit to always remain armed, outright assassination and/or preparing explosives under the floorboards was perhaps... slightly excessive."
Waku Motohama: So I didn't get a lot of time to work. The context of this all is - remember that kidnapping of upper management thing I mentioned?
Floria Aerinus nods. "I remember that, yes. Also, I'm supposed to be inferring that these people were your enemies, for some reason...?"
Waku Motohama: So. Beginning of the week, management heads to Ul'dah to have what should have been a fairly routine meeting with the Immortal Flames regarding aid and assistance in various operations around Thanalan. You know. Respectable stuff. Midweek, we get this so-called epistle from the Swords of Salvation saying that our leaders have been "delayed by unforseen confidential circumstances" and that the Premier of the Swords of Salvation, Fallax vi Hydrangea - " Waku pauses. Clears her throat. "'Scuse me."
Waku Motohama: This Fallax fellow would be coming by to let us know what's up. Obviously, everyone collectively loses it because first off - what? And second off, no who isn't absolutely off their rocker calls themselves an Inquisitor in this day and age. Like, really now. We're also wondering, uh, hey - what's this got to do with the Immortal Flames now?
Floria Aerinus: Were these people Ishgardians?
Waku Motohama: Great question. From the onset, it appeared not, but why exactly are Inquisitors running around down here? So I do some digging. /Apparently/, this so called organizaiton is a bizarre conglomeration of various branches of interest - mercantile, mercenary, academic, etcetera - working closely with the Immortal Flames to... I guess purge sin from Eorzea, starting with the gleaming city of gold?
Floria Aerinus rolls her cheek to the side, pushing her lips together. "Oh, one of _those_ type of organizations."
Floria Aerinus: "Sin" is a really useful word, from a political perspective. It's a great pretext to purge your enemies.
Waku Motohama: Which sounded like a pretty bizarre association if you ask me, and it leads me to think that we're dealing with some fuzzy passion-project, ostensibly linked to the Flames with high-minded justifications of 'public good' and 'protecting the world' to justify embezzelement, extortion, wanton disregard of personal liberties and... yeah, the whole purging thine enemies thing.
Waku Motohama: Tied up in a neat bow with an attachment to the Flames under the guise of 'outreach to like-minded' organizations. Syndicate style, I guess? Like how everything really is a private entity when you break it down in Ul'dah.
Floria Aerinus: Such aggressive religious organizations are often the pet projects of conservative political factions. Not, per-se, out of piety - although such a pretense is occasionally a factor - but more often because of the populist advantages that exist in inspiring zealotry in the populace. A small group of faithful in a community radicalizing often puts more moderate faithful in a difficult position.
Floria Aerinus speaks in a passive tone. "When they find themselves at odds with the rest of the community due to the actions of their peers, their only choices can be to leave, abandon their faith outright, or radicalize in turn. It's not as if you can abandon a god like a political party."
Floria Aerinus: It is said that Amdapor fell victim to such predations in its era. Though, I'm no expert, of course.
Floria Aerinus clicks her tongue. "Still, it's difficult to argue that Ul'Dah could do with a little purging."
Waku Motohama snaps her fingers, gesturing to Flora casually. "Mhm. It seemed weird to me it'd festered in Ul'dah of all places, but often my work doesn't take me indepth into those sorts of political movements, and I'll admit to having blinders on regarding those religious nuances given my profession."
Floria Aerinus: Ul'Dah is a liberal city with a reactionary history. You don't have to dig deep beneath all the contemporary wealth to find a lot of very ardent traditionalists.
Floria Aerinus: I should know-- I studied with the Thaumaturges for nigh on half a decade.
Waku Motohama nods to herself, taking this into consideration. "An interesting perspective, and likely a manner of knowledge I should acquaint myself with more thoroughly. But - ah, where was I...? Ah! Yes. So, that's the basic layout of what we were looking at on the surface, added to Premiere vi Hydrangea's request for us to gather /all/ of our company members into a basement meeting room to deliver some confidential information to us. Which was suspicious as a featherless dodo, so I dug deeper."
Waku Motohama: And what I found out is, shall we say...
Waku Motohama: Troubling, but in a way you'll find quite interesting I imagine.
Floria Aerinus raises her eyebrows expectantly.
Waku Motohama: So, to clarify. The Inquisitors of the Astral Light is the main body of the organization. The Swords of Salvation is its military division. Fallax - its 'Premier' - heads the military branch. I wanted to find out more about him, obviously. The easiest one was that he had a reputation for being a ruthless shit. The second...
Waku Motohama: ...Was that no records of him existed before his association with the Swords of Salvation. Even the destruction of the Calamity didn't account for the complete lack of intel I could find. Seemed like the man had just popped out of thin air. Alias, I thought, but I also found it weird that there were no hiring records on file within the Inquisitors, either.
Waku Motohama: I kept digging, and it was like that for every single one of them. No childhood homes, no parents, no travel records, nothing that suggested immigration. Like they all just... popped into existence the day they joined the Swords!
Floria Aerinus: Oh, oh.
Floria Aerinus clasps her hands together. "Stop for a second. I want to guess."
Waku Motohama: Please do!
Floria Aerinus looks excited about the prospect. "Okay. How many guesses do I get?"
Waku Motohama holds up three fingers, smiling.
Waku Motohama: Pedestrian, I know, but it's a fun number.
Floria Aerinus looks incredibly serious as she contemplates this, hopping off the railing. "...For the most obvious guess, I feel like I should be able to group things like Golems, Clones, or magically constructed creatures of some kind all into one single category. Let's say "Artificial beings" for the sake of simplicity."
Floria Aerinus: If I were writing this novel, that's what I'd do.
Waku Motohama: Fair enough; I'll accept that.
Floria Aerinus: Well, then, that's my first guess. That they were some kind of artificial army created by the organization to carry out their will!
Floria Aerinus: Given fake identity papers! A top secret project!
Waku Motohama: What's number two?
Floria Aerinus speaks with conviction.
Floria Aerinus looks dejected. "Oh, was I wrong...? That sucks."
Floria Aerinus looks considerably deflated, but continues regardless. "Well... I suppose I ought to pick something more realistic... Let's stick with the fake identity papers part, and say that they were foreigners brought in for some outside agenda. Maybe Garleans. There are Garlean spies all over the place, you know."
Floria Aerinus: There's a whole clique of them I've seen hanging outside of the Quicksand. They won't talk to me.
Waku Motohama: Wow, what jerks. It's probably because they're jealous that you can teleport but they can't because Garleans suck at magic.
Waku Motohama: Third guess?
Floria Aerinus looks like she's lost all hope in her guesses, or at least the prospect of the truth actually being entertaining. "Hmm, well... I suppose the only other option would be that they were locals who somehow discarded their old identity... Maybe they were raised from the dead? Or they all had their memories removed to make them ultimate soldiers? Though, I'm not even sure if that's possible... Or I suppose they could have just cast them aside willingly and taken new identities.
Floria Aerinus: For some reason.
Floria Aerinus clicks her tongue. "Tch, this is getting too scattershot. Let's just go with that last one."
Floria Aerinus: It's the most mundane, but sometimes it cannot be helped.
Waku Motohama laughs softly. "Sorry Miss Floria, I was teasing you a bit there. I was curious what you'd say if I kept prodding; don't be disappointed. Let's break your guesses down, eh?"
Waku Motohama: Having met Fallax and his cronies, they didn't have any of the marks of undeath. There were three main players in the engagement that lead to the complete destruction of our headquarters and my forced hiding, along with a few cronies, but each seemed lucid enough. I doubt that locals who had discarded their identity would so completely be able to escape my notice."
Waku Motohama: It is a baffling motive two, and - oh, I kept one bit of information from you that I ought to have offered. Swords of Salvation never /quit/ being Swords. Which does a bit to cast some doubt on theory number two.
Waku Motohama: Second point, the motives are all around baffling. Oh, I kept one bit of information from you that I ought to have offered. Swords of Salvation never /quit/ being Swords. Which does a bit to cast some doubt on theory number two - foreign spies.
Floria Aerinus looks excited. "Oh, oh. I'm feeling like my first theory is going to have been right."
Floria Aerinus: I knew it. It's always clones.
Waku Motohama grins toothily. "Mm. So - smuggling them all in could be a solution, but its overly complicated, seemingly pointless, doesn't explain why no Swords ever quit (I mean, murder explains that, but its still a messy solution), and does nothing to explain their fanatacism. Or their powers. See..."
Waku Motohama: We had a manor house, right? Big one. And a group of eighteen insane adventurers couldn't take three of these Swords down, one of which casted like, some weird giant mega-flare esque hell-spell to completely demolish the place..."
Waku Motohama: ...Not to mention the lady with the nutso mind-powers that I'm kinda still dealing with, by-the-by, if I seem magic its because I've had a witch jiggling around in my brain for way longer than I'm comfortable with, and the third guy was just like, woo-ee sword magic. So bing-bing! I can't confirm it unfortunately, but I'm pretty sure you're right on the clones one.
Waku Motohama: Specially since its always clones.
Waku Motohama: Or maybe its Allagan stuff. Like.
Waku Motohama: Isn't it always Allagan stuff when you've got clones? Or Ascians. Maybe it's Ascians.
Floria Aerinus looks delighted. "I knew it!" she exclaims. "I'm so glad it's the most ridiculous thing I could think of." Her expression, however, fades quickly to her baseline one. "Technically speaking, the Allagans were masters of cloning technology. The only examples of it that remain in the world are either of their invention, and Garlemald... Or perhaps Mhach's imitation. "
Floria Aerinus: So if it be one, it would likely be the other, too.
Floria Aerinus: As for the Ascians, well...
Floria Aerinus plays with her hair a little, wrapping it around her finger. "Their kind can take possession of the bodies of mortals, but not fabricate them wholesale... At least, not under normal circumstances. Plus, even the lesser ones will almost never attack in numbers.
Waku Motohama nods to herself. "Sounds about right. And yeah, like - they literally burned down an entire house in a pretty nice ward of the Goblet, in full public view, ruining the neighbors vegetables all the while shouting about how they're going to purge the sinners or some-such. I'm pretty sure the only people that tacky could be people who aren't actually people."
Floria Aerinus: Pray tell.
Floria Aerinus: These people-- What do they look like, physically?
Floria Aerinus: Just normal?
Waku Motohama: Mhm. Like people.
Floria Aerinus: No particular features in common, anything like that? Hm.
Floria Aerinus leans against the railing, her head against her hand. "And I expect no clear motive, either?"
Waku Motohama looks off into the distance. "The edges of things, it's been hard to ask some of the involved parties as they're still in critical care. Basically, though, it seems like some... incident happened before I joined that caused this group to view the organization I'm affilitated with as 'impure'. Due to some frustration with not being able to go through the proper channels... They took the direct approach."
Waku Motohama: But I'm not sure what, exactly, they want. Zealotry isn't usually what I end up dealing with in the workplace.
Floria Aerinus: Ohh, hm. I see.
Floria Aerinus looks at Waku carefully for a moment, a finger on her lips. Then, a smirk slowly forms at the edges of her mouth. "So... What you're saying is that you're actually sure you're the good guys? After all, if you don't know what your group did, well-- They could have done anything, surely?"
Floria Aerinus: The whole thing could be some Nymian tragedy of misunderstanding.
Waku Motohama barks out a laugh. "Oh, I'm under no impression that 'we're' the good guys! I just figure, you know, if a bunch of crazy fake-people burn down a house in the middle of a resedential district shouting about the Liiiiiiiiiight and somesuch, they've gotta have some screws lose."
Waku Motohama: ...And color me interested, I guess? I dunno, I kinda need to see this through because, again. I've kind of been touched by a weird mind-witch. Need to fix that bit.
Floria Aerinus looks over to the waterfall. "Strange behaviour can suddenly appear completely rational once you have a different emotional perspective. Love and hatred both sound like madness when professed without their proper context. ...But, I confess I doubt it's anything so complicated!"
Floria Aerinus: And either way, I didn't come here to try and convince you to do anything. You should do what you think is best!
Floria Aerinus: So is that the end of the story? You came here to hide out?
Waku Motohama: What I want to do, honestly, is take them to court for the money to buy my stuff back.
Waku Motohama: Not quite. So - technically, I'm hiding out a bit north of here in Coerthas. I came down here to make some... inquiries. What prodding I can do, I guess, even though my situation is a bit tenuous right now.
Waku Motohama: Most particularly, I'm interested in how the Grand Companies are viewing these circumstances. Ostensibly, the Inquisitors work closely with the Flames. But I can't imagine that - unleashed like this - that public opinion is going to be in their favor if they're going around screaming about sin and smiting people as they will.
Waku Motohama: At the moment, I don't have any control of the narrative. Being forced to flee with people chasing you with hellfire and shiny swords tends to do that. But, enough people's narratives have been squashed down, then... the masses tend to get angry, right? I doubt that'd look good for anyone's public image.
Floria Aerinus 's eyes wander a bit. "Hiding from Inquisitors in Ishgard? That's kind of funny."
Waku Motohama: I know, right? I love the irony.
Floria Aerinus: Have you considered the possibility that dissent exists within the organization, in some capacity? The way you described it makes it sound like you were attacked by a group of just the military branch. But do you know that the people running the show have proper control over them?
Floria Aerinus: You know-- The ones with the oxymoronic name.
Waku Motohama: I have, actually. Another thing I'd really love to know, but it's been a bit hard to dig for... a variety of reasons.
Floria Aerinus: Mmmmm-hmmmmm...
Floria Aerinus moves suddenly, turning to look at Waku directly. "You know, Waku, I can't help but feel you're doing that thing right now."
Floria Aerinus: Where you go-- How would you put it...?
Floria Aerinus: Where you're at the market, and you see a really nice looking chocolate cake, and you go, "Oh, I wish I had that chocolate cake, but it's such a pity I can't afford it." With all your friends in earshot.
Waku Motohama: You do me such a great disservice.
Waku Motohama: Haven't I gotten you to want the chocolate cake at least a little bit?
Floria Aerinus pushes at her bottom lip. "Well, I suppose it is a little interesting. And I've already gone out of my way like this, so it would be a bit of a waste just to drop the whole affair like a bag of kittens."
Waku Motohama: Wow, right by a river? Cold.
Floria Aerinus: I like cats, but if I had a whole bag, I probably wouldn't love them _that_ much.
Waku Motohama: There's a difference between, like. Not wanting an entire bag of cats and dumping them all in the water.
Floria Aerinus clasps her hands together. "I suppose I could help you a little bit. If all you need is someone who can move around more freely to bring you some information, there's no reason I can't do that."
Waku Motohama grins. It is profoundly pointy. "Oh, would you? That'd be swell. --Ahaha, sorry! I'll stop being a shit about it."
Waku Motohama: Yeah, if you wanna share this weird Allagan clone cake with me, that'd be nice. Once I'm in a better position, I'm certain there's other business we could help each other out with, too.
Floria Aerinus makes a dismissive gesture. "Oh, you don't need to make any sort of half-promises like that. I'll do this for fun, no strings attached."
Floria Aerinus: Even boring things don't bother me, so long as they're a little interesting.
Waku Motohama: Somehow, I both think that was the stupidist possible way you could have phrased it, while still feeling deep down to my core that I understand exactly what you mean.
Waku Motohama: Nice.
Floria Aerinus: Lots of things are both boring and interesting. Like neurosurgery.
Floria Aerinus: Even if something is hard, it's worth it if something notable happens at the end.
Waku Motohama: Still, it's a bit... people die when they are killed, you know?
Floria Aerinus shrugs. "Language is fiddly. If you start fussing over particularities, the whole thing will crumble like a house of cards. As long the feeling is conveyed, that is all that is essential."
Floria Aerinus: Actually, wait. I want to change my response to that remark.
Waku Motohama: Seems a little dramatic, but it's still fun to think about. I was also just yesterday going on about how language is a societal construct and while we play at some collective understanding, we are all just working off of our individual impressions of words and hoping for the best. To be fair, the circumstances were of me, yet again, making fun of stupid hyur names.
Waku Motohama: Oh, go ahead.
Waku Motohama: Statement redacted. What's your retcon?
Floria Aerinus: Okay.
Waku Motohama: ...
Waku Motohama: Fair enough.