Kowa/Waku - Rant Report

Waku Motohama strolls up, a comfortable five minutes before the bell. She looks serious, an expression she's been wearing a lot these days, and lofts a hand when she sees Kowa sitting on the bench before her. "...Hey. I'm, uh - glad you could make it."
Kowa Brimaine 's eyes flick over her, head dipping into a nod of studied neutrality. "You wanted to speak?"
Waku Motohama: Yeah. I guess I wanted to clear the air just a bit. There's been more garbage coming down the nonsense pipes, and... before I talked to you or Altani about any of that, I wanted to, I dunno.
Waku Motohama: Talk, just for a bit.
Waku Motohama: Yeah. I guess I wanted to clear the air just a bit. There's been more garbage coming down the nonsense pipes, and... before I talked to you or Altani about any of that, I wanted to, I dunno.
Waku Motohama: Talk, just for awhile.
Kowa Brimaine || For having been asked to talk Kowa seems disinclined to open her mouth, but a gesture of her head at least grants permission for the Raen to sit.
Waku Motohama plops down, letting her tail drape over her seat. Behind them, the waterfall rumbles, and without any further preamble, Waku says - "I'm an ass. I know I'm an ass. I don't know where along the way my personality got so twisted, so I keep trying to find ways to be like the old Waku Motohama... but it never works out quite right. I don't even know how to properly say, 'I'm sorry', or even give you a rundown of all the manifold things I'm sorry /for/, because there isn't even a specific thing-
Waku Motohama: I can point at and be like, 'That, I wish I'd done that different.' So I'm not here asking you to think of me with any kind of fondness, and I totally understand if you never like me again. But." She rubs the back of her head, then looks away. "If you ever want to eat a cheesecake with me, I seriously meant that, and I... really liked being your nurse. Even if I end up never seeing you again in the end, I..."
Waku Motohama: ...You're real great, Kowa.
Kowa Brimaine: "Shut up, Miss Waku," Kowa answers, but the words sound more tired than anything else. "I don't hate you. I never did. There's no need to speak as though I no longer want you in my life."
Kowa Brimaine: "You've never done anything but try to help."
Waku Motohama looks at her hands cradled in her lap. "I won't try to change your mind on that last point - making you the defendent in an emotional trial of my own inadequacies would be pretty lame of me, considering - but... uh. I'm leaving The Knights of Eorzea, Kowa. And I'm going to do it as soon as I can. So it might just... end up working out that way, I guess."
Kowa Brimaine frowns deeply. "Is that what you meant about things coming down the pipe? What happened?"
Kowa Brimaine: "Besides the obvious."
Waku Motohama lets out a deep whoosh of air and hooks her arms behind her head. "Mhm. So," a brief pause to check her surroundings. "I've been rummaging around for more information about the Knights and the Inquisitors both - you know, trying to figure out more about what's going on because no one is really properly telling us anything. Right? And, uh - remember with Fallax was going on about us harboring black magic users?"
Kowa Brimaine rubs her temples. "I do. And I'm aware as of recently that he may have had a point."
Kowa Brimaine: "Sigmund's lover was both very angry that she was not contacted after his kidnapping and very quick to mention that she was a black mage."
Kowa Brimaine: "They seemed more worried about quabbling with each other than addressing my concerns."
Waku Motohama just. Stops short.
Waku Motohama: ...Please, please tell me /everything/, I'm on the outskirts of this rabbit hole of utter insanity looking in with a slack-jawed expression. She said it up front to you? What did they have to argue about that was more important than that?!
Kowa Brimaine rolls her eyes. "Mostly of the physical retribution he had apparently earned for not keeping her in the loop, despite her disappearance without so much as contact information for the rest of the free company."
Waku Motohama: ...Okay, quick check in. How do you want me to handle this news? Would you prefer "Oh, very interesting" Waku who delivers important information with a nice, neutral cadence, or am I allowed to absolutely lose my mind here and go on a rant?"
Kowa Brimaine snorts. "I will not begrudge you a rant, after everything."
Waku Motohama takes a deep breath, and It Begins. Luckily, Waku Motohama is not a particularly shouty person, sparing Kowa's poor ears from a sound-barrier cracking tirade. In character, it is more frenetic and hushed, like someone having an absolute breakdown behind a church. "Okay, so first off - where even is first off here? Where do I even start? I guess with Sigmund. I guess we'll start with Sigmund and his /black mage lover/ - was anybody going to tell me about that or was I supposed to just read -
Waku Motohama: it in a letter over coffee? Maybe a, 'oh hello, yes! Small heads up, but the Inquisitors who burned your stuff, tried to kill you, and also have been making the past few weeks an absolute living hell by infecting us with some kind of mind virus' have a tiny bit of a point! I mean, I'm a forgiving person, I could - I could maybe be sold on a little bit of moral dubiousness if framed in the right light, but no! No, no no, it goes on the ever-reaching pile of 'things I can arrest people for that -
Waku Motohama: they just casually drop around me! And they don't even - even notice?! Anybody could be a spy! They literally just dealt with a spy! I literally told Astrid, 'hey, I don't want to have to be vetting if everyone around us is trust-worthy, I left the Brass Blades because I'm tired worrying that someone is going to try to /kill me/ if I'm left alone with them' and she said, 'don't worry I'm crazy paranoid, I got you' and I was like - nice! Awesome! I will stick around here if I'm being protected -
Waku Motohama: by a frightening Ishgardian lady! Except now she's just - gone? I guess? I don't know, every time I see her she seems stressed or sad and like /same/ but also, on the other hand, she literally couldn't think to tell me, "Hey, so it's a bit awkward, but... we kind of /are/ harboring a black mage?" Did she not know? Does she think I'm stupid? Most of the intelligence we have on these people is because of me! Furthermore --
Waku Motohama pauses only briefly for air. "I really can't stand her savior complex, I'm not some damsel to be saved and stop, like, being kind of mysterious and Sad about things, people will help you, lady! Anyway, off topic. What was the topic? Black mage! So Sigmund - a guy we risked people's lives and spent so many resources to rescue which had really awful consequences - did I tell you about those? Shit, I'm sorry Sir Markus, not going to be able to help you bust a /drug cartel/ anymore, the one you-
Waku Motohama: had to trade territory to so you could SAVE this moron - is intimate with a black mage. A stupid black mage with a wide-open mouth who apparently is also abusive. Nice! Ten-outta-ten. And just shows up once he's rescued? Lady, if you've got apocalyptic powers, maybe at least get on my good side by offering to use them to HELP. Anyone who chooses a partner who is so thoroughly, blatantly useless while also being a giant threat is no one I can trust, and oh, yeah, by the way, did you know that -
Waku Motohama: Sigmund was a /member of the Swords of Salvation?/
Waku Motohama finally gives Kowa a space to interject, or maybe even save herself from this nonsense.
Kowa Brimaine silently rises and walks away, into the Bobbing Cork. When she returns it's with a massive mug of tea and a slice of pie, both of which are shoved into Waku's hands with a look that says she'd better get about eating them. "A few concepts."
Kowa Brimaine: "Firstly, with how little she seems to care about protecting the information, it's likely that most of the company is aware and did not bother to tell the rest of the Astral Light's victims that their claim had legitimacy. For another, I share your frustrations about Miss Astrid - I believe wholly that she is a good soul at heart, but her martyr complex can grow wearying if not downright destructive."
Waku Motohama is about to just shove the pie directly into her face until she remembers forks exist. She does that instead, enjoying the hell out of some comfort eating.
Kowa Brimaine: "For a third, I hadn't known that Sigmund's old alliances were among this group. That along with the black mage matter makes clear how little information the Knights are willing to yield whilst asking for our swords, Ser Markus' suffering being a prime consequence."
Kowa Brimaine 's gaze drops, expression shifting from cold fury to sadness. "This...complicates matters."
Waku Motohama gestures to Kowa with her fork. "I'm sorry to say, it only gets worse. You wanna know, or are you too far in the emotion pits for this leaking trash-bag?"
Kowa Brimaine: "Anything you have to tell, I'd know it."
Waku Motohama: Neat, so... little refresher course for you. Here's what we know about the Swords. For one - Fallax is a bag of rotten walnuts stuffed into the skin of a man. Two - most of them seem to be, like. Fake people. My theory was Allagan clones, and boy do I wish that was still my theory. Three - they don't let anyone quit. Right? Nobody quits. So..."
Waku Motohama: So how can we even begin to trust "Sir" Sigmund at a very basic level? Beyond that... I don't know entirely what the deal with the Inquisitors of the Astral Light are, but I've learned what they want. And it's absolutely insane.
Waku Motohama: Kowa, they're trying to strip the world of all of its umbral essences. They want to make the Void, but - but with /light/.
Kowa Brimaine hisses. "If that is their goal, then Sigmund was most certainly a test subject during his captivity. His aether was almost lethally out of balance - but listing not to the umbral but to the astral. When I attempted to bring him into proper attunement it violently shifted to the opposite, as though greedily sucking in any aether I had to offer."
Waku Motohama pauses. This is new information to her, and with an expression reminiscent of the cold, churning sea, she processes it. "...Hells. That just makes it worse. All of it, just so much worse. Like, think about it. Why /are/ the Inquisitors after us, anyway? Like - deep down. Why us? What started this? All I can think is... huh, seems pretty logical that they'd find out about Sigmund's black mage lover from Sigmund himself. Furthermore, how much of this did he know? He can't have been totally -
Waku Motohama: ignorant. If he was, he is so far beyond the pale of obliviousness that he's gone around the world twice. At that point, it doesn't even matter what the truth is, because no answer excuses it. Either he's so stupid that he shouldn't even be trusted with a herd of dodos, much less people's lives, or he's outright been using us to... protect his damn love life.
Kowa Brimaine: "That it does not matter is correct," she answered grimly. "It is clear to me that the Knights do not have aught but Sigmund's best interests in mind. No amount of sentiment about friendships or about a home that is even now in cinders changes that."
Waku Motohama: "Sir" Light is no better; first thing he does when trying to get up is pry himself out of bed in pursuit of that damn savior complex. I am /not/ going to suffer for the foolishness of others. I'm not going to struggle with this damn witch so others can take advantage - no matter their intentions! - of my trust. They are criminally incompetent. I.
Waku Motohama: I... don't want to see the rest of you get hurt anymore.
Kowa Brimaine rubs her temples. "At the very least, the rest of Saeva's victims should be told these truths. Fighting her is ache enough without our leader possibly in league with the woman who orchestrates our torment. Further, I would...ask that you tell Altani, as well, and I am sure Miss F'ennelise would want to know, too."
Waku Motohama looks down to the bracelet around her wrist. "Agreed, and absolutely. I already told Will. He's got his stuff packed up. We're - ....did you even know we were friends? Will and I go pretty far back. And yeah, no way I'm letting Miss F'ennelise suffer any more without knowing all this, and... for E'ko's sake, they deserve to have everything they need to make the best choices for them."
Kowa Brimaine: "I didn't know that," she answers softly. "A task undertaken posthaste, then, so we can pack and figure out accommodations." She frowns. "I don't think my small Observatorium room will fit all of her victims, plus F'ennelise, Altani, and Will. We'll have to think of something."
Waku Motohama pauses, seeming to realize something. Whatever it is, she doesn't comment. "Let's talk to the others, then. I wanted to talk to you first, so I could - y'know, say all that stuff before - but we may as well meet up and discuss what we want to do."
Kowa Brimaine nods in agreement, then hesitates. "You will always be my nurse," is the awkward non sequitur before she rises. "I will send them a message."
Waku Motohama is taken off guard, looking at her with her mouth shaped like a little 'o', before she breaks out in a bright, big grin. "Said I'd follow you even to Ishgard, didn't I? Just... let's bail out of the weird light cult nonsense; I don't get paid enough for that."
Kowa Brimaine nods again, brisk, but at the corners of her mouth play a smile.