Lucidity

Sui Eclair was playing a crazy tune with the pan flute she somehow managed to obtain in the item shop, clearly into it as she kept her eyes all the wildlife that were summoned by the instrument—yet watching from afar, as for whatever reason they were the picture of fear.
Sui Eclair: "..."

Defiant Bride could hear the sound of a flute but didn't actually connect it to anything as she trotted up, offering a wave. "Aaah...! S-suiiii~! S-sorry, I hope I'm not running l-late? The f-ferry was a bit late..." She came to a stop beside the other raen... then paused. "...........w-was that you playing?"

Sui Eclair slowly lowers the instrument, giving up on coaxing the critters closer. The moment she turns to meet Defiant, all of them go scattering. "—Oh. Well, that's..." Unfortunate. What have they got to be afraid of? "You're just in time, Defiant. I was practicing with this! It's not the best, but I'm sure with practice I can make a more concrete tune."
Sui Eclair: "Did you like it?"

Defiant Bride starts as the animals scatter, blinking before looking back to examine Sui's flute. "A-ah... I hope I didn't s-scare them off. Y-you were pretty good...! I liked it, ehe!" She smiled, "I didn't know y-you played, though..."

Sui Eclair smiles back, albeit sadly. Defiant is much too nice. "I don't. Not really, I mean. If you think it sounded good, then I'll work harder to get better."
Sui Eclair: "Um, so..."

Defiant Bride just keeps smiling. I-it's fine! It's fine. "I'm s-sure you'll only get better with time, too..."

Sui Eclair puts her hands together, resting them to her front. She looks about nervously. "Where should we head off? It's your choice, today. I wasn't... Well, I've been a bit scatterbrained today. I've barely done anything but mess around."

Defiant Bride bites her lip, glancing over the horizon, "Aaah...! Well, l-let's see~! We probably s-shouldn't wander off t-too far, if it's just us t-two, but..." She hums, folding her hands behind her back, just under her tail, "Perhaps w-we can start up t-the shoreline and s-see what we run into? J-just.... see how far we go, or such, ehe."

Sui Eclair: "The shoreline..."
Sui Eclair looks ahead, to the direction of the coast. Pensive.
Sui Eclair: "I think that's a great idea, actually."

Defiant Bride beams at you.

Sui Eclair: "I'm here almost all the time these days, but I've never spent much time at the coast."
Sui Eclair: "Yes... Yes! What great thinking!"

Defiant Bride: "Aah, really~? I mean--uh! Y-yeah! And it'll be best if we d-don't want to worry about getting lost!
Defiant Bride psychs herself up alongside you!

Sui Eclair: "Let's go, then!" She grabs hold of Bride's hand, tugging her along. She seems quite happy, indeed. "We could have a little fun while we're out there, too. Do you like seashells? We could go hunting for some pretty ones while we're there."

Defiant Bride peeped in surprise for a moment before breaking into a bright grin, squeezing Sui's hand in return and picking up her pace to keep up with her. "Aaahh~! I do like t-them, ehe... some are very pretty, a-and I never have time to look, normally? I g-guess I don't visit the beach much!"

Sui Eclair laughs, going at a steady jog. "Me neither! You'll like it, you'll see!" Where they were, surprisingly, it isn't long before they find where they need to be, a quaint dirt path through the field of flowers that lead them to a downhill slope of sand and rocks. The beach they stumble upon is small, but it's positively empty and private, the water crisp and clear and the horizon a stunning blue.

Defiant Bride is more than happy to just follow along wherever Sui leads, easily keeping up as they reach the sand. The sight of the horizon stretching out, the bright water and clean sand makes her pause for a moment before she resumes, "I-it's a bit funny... I d-don't think I've actually done m-much... looking around, but..."
Defiant Bride: "T-this is a really beautiful island, isn't i-it...?"

Sui Eclair lets go of Defiant's hand, finally, grinning ear to ear as she takes off her boots and kicks them aside. "Absolutely. There's no denying the danger of this place—but out here, when it's only us and we're given a moment to relax and take it all in..."

Sui Eclair: "It makes me quite happy! But especially here. Right here."

Defiant Bride hesitates at the edge of the water, taking a few hesitant steps before dancing back before she can get her shoes caught in the wet sand. "I c-can't help but be grateful it's q-quieter now..." She paused, then flushed, looking down, "I-I'm... p-pretty happy too, r-right here....!"
Defiant Bride: "...I w-wonder if I should j-just take my socks off a-and go for it..."

Sui Eclair: "The ocean... Somehow, I can feel at peace, looking at it. No matter whatever might be happening."

Sui Eclair: "Why, it's no wonder I would have such good memories of Vylbrand's coast."
Sui Eclair: "Come, come! The water's warm."

Defiant Bride: "H-have you tended to live b-by the water, then?" She takes a seat on the beach to wrestle with her sneakers. "If y-you have good memories of it~?"

Sui Eclair glances at the horizon, taking the sights in. She doesn't look at Bride. "I don't know." It's blunt, her words, her tone. "I think...at one point or another, I was there." There's a long pause, the waves receding. "I don't remember it, much of it. There's bits and pieces of memories from long ago, but it's all a haze. It's...distorted."
Sui Eclair: "Did I have good memories?"
Sui Eclair: "At some point, certain things came naturally to me, so I believed that must mean that it was always as it should be."
Sui Eclair: "Or maybe...I'm naturally inclined to love the sea."
Sui Eclair: "Haha! I don't know."
Sui Eclair: "I don't know..."

Defiant Bride steps into the water behind Sui, tucking her robe up into her belt to keep it's hem dry as she splashes quietly. "....y-you... y-you can't remember...?"
Defiant Bride: "...I m-mean... if you feel it, it's... probably just as y-you say, but..."
Defiant Bride: ".....t-the details.... s-specifically?"

Sui Eclair looks at Bride in shock.
Sui Eclair: "I never told you?"

Defiant Bride flushes slightly, "I... I f-feel like we've t-talked about it a little b-bit, but... I don't t-think I ever really w-wanted to pry, you know?"
Defiant Bride: "It f-feels r-rude to just... ask, ehe..."

Sui Eclair can see the hesitation that starts on her countenance when she realizes. It was mentioned here and there, right. But Bride didn't... Sui never said...

Defiant Bride: ".....c...can I ask.. n-now?"

Sui Eclair | The raen looks away, frowning. "...I'm sorry. Sometimes, my memory tends to fail me, even today. It's all quite weird, honestly. I usually like to keep it to myself. No one really knows, save for the captain. Not even Vyse knows the full extent, I think, but..."
Sui Eclair: "We spoke once, didn't we, of our origins—of our place in this world? The thought of intermingling in Hingashi and its culture scared us both, because that place was never truly our homes despite...who we are."

Defiant Bride nodded slowly, ducking her head as the wind began to pick up just a touch. She didn't want to talk too much... the atmosphere felt a bit fragile, somehow. "Y-yeah... n-neither of us were... raised there. I r-remember... it felt kind of n-nice to know we were the same, like that."

Sui Eclair: "There is no doubt within my mind that Eorzea is my home. All of my memories are of Eorzea, and nothing more." She smiles. "But...it's hard to say, honestly, what my first memory was, or when I had become lucid enough to—remember, I guess." Fingers course through her hair, eyes narrowing with thought. She honestly has to stop to think on it. "It was only a few years ago, yes. I was in the Twelveswood, and that was when I...started to remember, fully...but the memories before that—"

Sui Eclair: "I can't remember it."
Sui Eclair: "It was like I'd been dreaming the whole time."
Sui Eclair: "My childhood, my adolescence...there's nothing significant I can remember."
Sui Eclair: "I don't...really know who I am, Defiant."

Defiant Bride 's mouth falls open, her hand flying up a moment later to try and hide her expression somewhat. "...a-ah... I didn't..." She hesitated, then closed her eyes, taking a slow and deep breath. "...I didn't... r-realize how recent it was. I... I don't know w-why I had the impression you'd... you remembered more." She had to take her time, trying to find the right words.
Defiant Bride: "...I... I almost don't know what t-to say. It...  I can't imagine h-how it is. But I--I mean! Even if you c-can't remember... you... you're s-still you, right?"
Defiant Bride: "Y-you're... g-good with a spear... and really s-sweet..."
Defiant Bride: "......s...something like that..."

Sui Eclair watches her, expression neutral at first. Eventually she can't help but smile, slowly, gaze lowering. She scratches her head, taking in her words. Defiant was much too sweet, and it gives her cause to hesitate. "...For a long time, it didn't bother me. I thought the same thing! You know...despite everything, my name was still was clear as day. I'm Sui. I'm me. There was a certain benefit to not having any real identity—I could do whatever I wanted." >
Sui Eclair looked over her shoulder, glancing at her weapon. "For as long as I could fully remember, this weapon has always been with me. When I realized I could fight... I thought I could put it to good use, so I had initially joined the Adventurers' Guild to help those in need. It didn't matter who I was before, because this was who I was now—and that's all that mattered. That's all I wanted to believe. My happiness, my optimism...my desire to understand the meaning of love— >
Sui Eclair —they are all creations of those lonely days, when I had no one but myself to mimic the actions of others, and learn from them." Slowly, she returns her gaze to Bride. "But... You understand what I'm saying, yes?"

Defiant Bride tilted her head to be sure she wouldn't lose a moment of Sui's words, turning to watch her as she spoke while the waves lapped at both of their legs. "...no... I..."
Defiant Bride laughed quietly, looking down, "......I g-guess, I kind of do, when y-you say that, maybe. Even if y-you feel like you're you.... you... f-find yourself wanting... roots."

Sui Eclair continued to watch her for a moment, before her gaze wandered again. "Back at the Forgotten Stage, something had happened to have caused me to remember something. I saw a glimpse of the past in my mind, of myself as a child with a man somewhere on the coast of Vylbrand. We were in some sort of pub, and I was gorging myself on seafood stew and feeling—happiness."
Sui Eclair: "I actually /remembered/ something, after so long."

Defiant Bride: "A....ah!! Ahh! T-that's--that's...! Good! T-then...! That you could r-recall and... and such, right?" She smiled, bright as she could, encouraging, "What... what made you... remember?"

Sui Eclair: "It was something as mundane as discussing favorite food. Luca asked me, and when I answered it was like...a stream of memories, slowly flooding in."
Sui Eclair: "But it's all I /could/ remember of it."
Sui Eclair: "The man in my memory... I know of him, vaguely."
Sui Eclair: "At some point I had lost my parents—and after that time, there was only him."

Defiant Bride shifted forward, fussing with her hands, ".....s...so y-you and I were... alike like... like that. T-too... do you remember a-anything about him? If... if he was an au-ra or something else, or..."
Defiant Bride: "...anything?"

Sui Eclair: "Yes! Yes," she nods, feeling the need to be positive, too. "We're alike in many ways after all, aren't we? But that man... I can't remember his name any longer. Come to think of it...did I ever know?" She taps her forehead. Ponder, ponder. "...If I am able to remember this correctly, he was a Hyur."
Sui Eclair: "He was..."
Sui Eclair: "He was...?"
Sui Eclair: "..."
Sui Eclair: "...A merchant. A wandering merchant."
Sui Eclair: "/Oh!/"
Sui Eclair: "I remember!"
Sui Eclair: "He was Doman!"

Defiant Bride shows you her uncontainable jubilation!
Defiant Bride: "Ohhhhhh~! YOU! Y-you remembered something else, then!"
Sui Eclair: "I remembered it! I did!"

Defiant Bride beams with delight at you.
Defiant Bride: "That's something, r-right~?!"

Sui Eclair: "He had a caravan, and—yes, he was a wandering merchant of Doman origin. He must have taken me in at some point, and...yes, that's where the memory of the Vylbrand coast comes from. We were there, at some point."

Defiant Bride: "That's w-wonderful~!" She laughs, rocking back on her heels, "I... I w-wonder if it'll be even easier t-to remember more from here, perhaps...? If you're remembering things now. S-sometimes it all comes back at once..."
Defiant Bride: "...and if y-you remember that he was Doman.. t-that has to be helpful too!"

Sui Eclair smiles, too, hand resting on her chest—a habit of hers. "It is...isn't it? After all this time, it certainly is nice, knowing a thing or two."
Sui Eclair: "...It's scary, too."
Sui Eclair: "During my time in Kugane, and deep into Othard, I had journeyed alone for most of my time there—I was looking for some sort of answer, I suppose you could say. Do you know of the Kojin? I had made myself friends with them, too, and upon hearing of my plight of lost family, they told me of a underwater village that exists of Raen—many who wouldn't dare to ever leave the ocean depths. I had made a visit there, too."
Sui Eclair: "In the end...all of it was in vain, because no one had a clue of who I was."

Defiant Bride held her breath, her eyes sparkling as she leaned forward, following on Sui's story again... only to wilt. "A...ahh...."
Defiant Bride: "N...no o-one knew... at... at all? I--t-that's... maybe t-they just...! Maybe it was s-so long ago they forgot?"

Sui Eclair: "In retrospect, it was a little silly to do. If I'd never set foot on that continent, well...what else should I expect!? But I thought that—maybe—someone would see me, and recognize me from my mother, or my father, as farfetched a thing as it was..."
Sui Eclair: "All I did was validate my fears."
Sui Eclair: "I want to know who I am, who I was...but it's scary, yes. If it's this difficult to find any information—well. Perhaps it's to save me from the trouble of it."

Defiant Bride: "....I.... I d-don't know. I... I g-guess it is scary. There's no guarantee t-there's really an answer at all, huh?" She bit her lip, shifting her foot in the water and watching as a tiny fish darted away. "....but I..."
Defiant Bride: ".....if y-you feel... feel like you want to learn more, m-maybe it's... even if it's scary, you shouldn't give up? YOu have... I mean, you have /some/ leads. That's already a lot, right?"
Defiant Bride: "E-even if... it didn't w-work that time, or you might h-hit a wall again. I... I don't know."

Sui Eclair: "..."
Sui Eclair: "......I want to know."
Sui Eclair: "I do."
Sui Eclair: "There's very little to base anything off of, right now... But perhaps I could try asking around to see if there might be any solutions for it. If there /are/ any."
Defiant Bride smiles at you.
Sui Eclair smiles back.
Sui Eclair: "I have nothing to lose, it's true."

Defiant Bride: "....you... r-remember being with a doman merchant in Vylbrand, s-some time ago... m-maybe that's a start, in Limsa. Or... m-maybe you'll remember something e-else, and that'll be what you need. Or m-maybe just searching will help you...!"

Sui Eclair: "Indeed...and what's the harm in knowing?"

A rain cloud blankets the view of the sun. Steadily, it begins to rain.

Defiant Bride: "Oh..."

Sui Eclair: "Oh!"

Defiant Bride: "Oh d-dear!"

Sui Eclair: "Oh, my!"

Defiant Bride begins to fluster, tugging the hood of her robe over her head and trying to shrink, "Urgh...! I h-hate... l-let's head back t-to shore for a bit before we g-get soaked...!"

Sui Eclair fully welcomes the pouring rain, spreading her arms and spinning about. "How nice! It feels great! Ah—but let's head back, yes! You don't like it?"

Defiant Bride can't help but laugh watching Sui, even as she tries to hide in her own clothes, "Aaah...! Y-yeah, I'm just--I don't like getting r-rained on! I s-spent a year or so in this one p-place where I had to s-stand on guard d-duty in the rain aaaaall t-the time and... nngh..."
Defiant Bride shrugs at you.

Sui Eclair: "Ohhhh! Oh. I can see why. Poor Defiant!" She turns, then, heading back to the shore to retrieve her belongings. Well, her pair of boots. "Let's find some where to stay dry then, hm? They say, you know...catching colds and...nevermind."

Defiant Bride nods, hurrying back out of the surf and picking up her shoes from the shore, this time being the first to reach out and take Sui's hand. "I'd h-hate for you to get sick... we'll hurry!"