[ Balthier agreed with a lot of this until very recently. Now he wonders if the only way to make real change is to be one of the people making the laws, but he's also loathe to be that person, especially without a stake in it. ]
I'm impressed. Your deduction skills are quite remarkable. I have [ It's still too painful to make it past tense ] a partner, the best. Fran. She makes my magick look like children's playacting, and she's deadly with a bow. Brilliant. I wouldn't be alive without her. We had some others on our little adventure, but I've been with Fran a long time. As to piracy, I'm a sky pirate. No borders, no walls. Just endless blue skies.
[ The question pulls a surprised chuckle from him. ] I well should have expected that. [ He leans back, sighing as he thinks. It's a question he's been running over in his own mind whether he means to or not. It's easier, somehow, to be talking to a stranger than to his own memory. ] All three I suppose. And obviously for the infamy. Aiming to be the most famous pirate in Ivalice's history.
[ The compulsion to be honest is still there, or maybe it's just the catharsis of sharing. ] I didn't set out to topple empires. My father had a lot of power -- he was a weapons researcher. That's part of why I left. That research led to destroying an entire city, and toppling nearby countries. I didn't think I could do anything. I didn't think I should have to. I wanted ... nothing to do with him.
Fate's a fickle lady, though. One tomb robbery leads to finding the missing queen and a couple of teen idiots. My bleeding heart got one of them kidnapped, so I had to go rescue them, and next thing I know the queen is asking me to kidnap her too so she can go find the fated weapon of kings and prove her bloodline. I only did it for the treasure, which there turned out to be none. But the empire attacked us. It was my father's weapons. It was men I'd known as boys. Something...changed. I said it was for the treasure but...there were a lot of people I could help, especially the ones I'd come to know from pirating. Aristocrats are usually fine. The common people aren't.
It's really not becoming on me, all this nobility. I'd be laughed out of the guild. [ Fran had liked it. That was what had pushed him to keep going. And Ashe...Ashe had listened. ]
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I'm impressed. Your deduction skills are quite remarkable. I have [ It's still too painful to make it past tense ] a partner, the best. Fran. She makes my magick look like children's playacting, and she's deadly with a bow. Brilliant. I wouldn't be alive without her. We had some others on our little adventure, but I've been with Fran a long time. As to piracy, I'm a sky pirate. No borders, no walls. Just endless blue skies.
[ The question pulls a surprised chuckle from him. ] I well should have expected that. [ He leans back, sighing as he thinks. It's a question he's been running over in his own mind whether he means to or not. It's easier, somehow, to be talking to a stranger than to his own memory. ] All three I suppose. And obviously for the infamy. Aiming to be the most famous pirate in Ivalice's history.
[ The compulsion to be honest is still there, or maybe it's just the catharsis of sharing. ] I didn't set out to topple empires. My father had a lot of power -- he was a weapons researcher. That's part of why I left. That research led to destroying an entire city, and toppling nearby countries. I didn't think I could do anything. I didn't think I should have to. I wanted ... nothing to do with him.
Fate's a fickle lady, though. One tomb robbery leads to finding the missing queen and a couple of teen idiots. My bleeding heart got one of them kidnapped, so I had to go rescue them, and next thing I know the queen is asking me to kidnap her too so she can go find the fated weapon of kings and prove her bloodline. I only did it for the treasure, which there turned out to be none. But the empire attacked us. It was my father's weapons. It was men I'd known as boys. Something...changed. I said it was for the treasure but...there were a lot of people I could help, especially the ones I'd come to know from pirating. Aristocrats are usually fine. The common people aren't.
It's really not becoming on me, all this nobility. I'd be laughed out of the guild. [ Fran had liked it. That was what had pushed him to keep going. And Ashe...Ashe had listened. ]