Is There Anybody Out There? - Day One, Outside the AU Zone
There was a particularly sensitive deal in the works that Balthier needed to go see to in person, and the transportation of the object was too delicate to leave to anyone else’s hands, not after what happened last May. So he ended up out of town for a few days. Including the night the alterations took place.
He gets the alert on his phone and his blood goes cold as he looks at the map of the effected areas. He hasn’t gotten texts from anyone since yesterday, but he hadn’t thought anything of it.
He’s going in, of course, but it’s going to take time to get briefed, see what support the Society can offer, make sure his transport is still working.
In the meantime he fires off texts to everyone he knows, trying to take a tally of who is still themselves.
Of who still remembers him.
Where are you? I need to talk to you.
Homecoming - Early in the Week, Excelsior
It hasn’t been a great first day of reconnaissance, and he knows he’s supposed to leave in cycles to keep the magic from effecting him too harshly.
Whether he’s gone in with someone and they’re regrouping to leave or he’s convinced someone within the Excelsior bubble to accompany him, he wants to stop by his house and grab a few things for his time away.
“I’ll just be a minute,” he says as he goes to open the front door. It took a little while to find the house, as some of the town map has shifted, so he’s relieved it looks the way he left it. “Can you get the suitcase out of the downstairs closet?”
It’s automatic to turn toward the stairs, already running through where things are in his head, when he stops dead.
“Ffamran, honey? We weren’t expecting you today.”
It’s his mother who steps out of the kitchen, warm and smiling and alive, looking completely comfortable in Earth clothes.
He tenses, because he hears shuffling in the living room, and Cid – the man he’s killed twice now – is walking toward him with a grin on his face.
“Good to see you, my boy. I thought you’d be buried in exams.”
And he hugs Balthier.
Happy Fucking Anniversary - Midweek, Central City
He’s taking a break in Central City, trying to regroup and decide what his next steps are. The Society is putting him up at the Diadem while his house is inaccessbile, and honestly, he hasn’t made it past the hotel bar.
This is where he was a year ago, fresh off a Confluence, fresh off everything happening at home. He’d lost everyone. He had no idea what he was going to do.
And now everyone he cares about doesn’t remember who he is. His house and his job are gone. He’s right back where he started, except he doesn’t think he has the energy to do this again. Can he get to another country? Can he get sent to some other world?
It’s not like Balthier to get drunk in public, let alone sad drunk, but the number of empty cups around him certainly point to his not having a good night. And he’s fiddling with a particularly beautiful pocket watch, a gift from a person who currently doesn’t know who he is.
“What’s the point of rebuilding when the storm’s just going to come again next season?” He’s not really talking to anyone, but he’s not really controlling his volume either.
A Memory of a Memory - Mid to Late Week, Excelsior
[ ooc: I’m waiting on a mod answer on this so may tag slightly slower but YES BRING ME CHAOS ]
Convincing people this isn’t real one by one is slow and painful. He’s exhausted, and he’s hurting, and he’s willing to take a risk because scions curse it all, he is Balthier, and he has saved worlds and ended gods and survived reality jumps and come back from the brink of death and he’s not letting go of his life here.
He picks a prominent place in town, one he knows well, and settles himself in the middle of it, somewhere with support for when he gets weak. This is the biggest illusion he’s ever cast, making the area not just look like it ought to, but laying a thick perception spell so that anyone who enters remembers things as they were.
It’s not perfect, and it’s a strain to hold it. But if he can wake anyone up, it will be worth it.
As people approach, he asks, “Do you know about Starfall?”
Wildcard
[ Feel free to wildcard me or hit more than one prompt for different parts of the week! If you want to discuss something, hit me on PM or plurk portolan ]
Balthier | Final Fantasy XII | OTA
Is There Anybody Out There? - Day One, Outside the AU Zone
There was a particularly sensitive deal in the works that Balthier needed to go see to in person, and the transportation of the object was too delicate to leave to anyone else’s hands, not after what happened last May. So he ended up out of town for a few days. Including the night the alterations took place.
He gets the alert on his phone and his blood goes cold as he looks at the map of the effected areas. He hasn’t gotten texts from anyone since yesterday, but he hadn’t thought anything of it.
He’s going in, of course, but it’s going to take time to get briefed, see what support the Society can offer, make sure his transport is still working.
In the meantime he fires off texts to everyone he knows, trying to take a tally of who is still themselves.
Of who still remembers him.
Where are you? I need to talk to you.
Homecoming - Early in the Week, Excelsior
It hasn’t been a great first day of reconnaissance, and he knows he’s supposed to leave in cycles to keep the magic from effecting him too harshly.
Whether he’s gone in with someone and they’re regrouping to leave or he’s convinced someone within the Excelsior bubble to accompany him, he wants to stop by his house and grab a few things for his time away.
“I’ll just be a minute,” he says as he goes to open the front door. It took a little while to find the house, as some of the town map has shifted, so he’s relieved it looks the way he left it. “Can you get the suitcase out of the downstairs closet?”
It’s automatic to turn toward the stairs, already running through where things are in his head, when he stops dead.
“Ffamran, honey? We weren’t expecting you today.”
It’s his mother who steps out of the kitchen, warm and smiling and alive, looking completely comfortable in Earth clothes.
He tenses, because he hears shuffling in the living room, and Cid – the man he’s killed twice now – is walking toward him with a grin on his face.
“Good to see you, my boy. I thought you’d be buried in exams.”
And he hugs Balthier.
Happy Fucking Anniversary - Midweek, Central City
He’s taking a break in Central City, trying to regroup and decide what his next steps are. The Society is putting him up at the Diadem while his house is inaccessbile, and honestly, he hasn’t made it past the hotel bar.
This is where he was a year ago, fresh off a Confluence, fresh off everything happening at home. He’d lost everyone. He had no idea what he was going to do.
And now everyone he cares about doesn’t remember who he is. His house and his job are gone. He’s right back where he started, except he doesn’t think he has the energy to do this again. Can he get to another country? Can he get sent to some other world?
It’s not like Balthier to get drunk in public, let alone sad drunk, but the number of empty cups around him certainly point to his not having a good night. And he’s fiddling with a particularly beautiful pocket watch, a gift from a person who currently doesn’t know who he is.
“What’s the point of rebuilding when the storm’s just going to come again next season?” He’s not really talking to anyone, but he’s not really controlling his volume either.
A Memory of a Memory - Mid to Late Week, Excelsior
[ ooc: I’m waiting on a mod answer on this so may tag slightly slower but YES BRING ME CHAOS ]
Convincing people this isn’t real one by one is slow and painful. He’s exhausted, and he’s hurting, and he’s willing to take a risk because scions curse it all, he is Balthier, and he has saved worlds and ended gods and survived reality jumps and come back from the brink of death and he’s not letting go of his life here.
He picks a prominent place in town, one he knows well, and settles himself in the middle of it, somewhere with support for when he gets weak. This is the biggest illusion he’s ever cast, making the area not just look like it ought to, but laying a thick perception spell so that anyone who enters remembers things as they were.
It’s not perfect, and it’s a strain to hold it. But if he can wake anyone up, it will be worth it.
As people approach, he asks, “Do you know about Starfall?”
Wildcard
[ Feel free to wildcard me or hit more than one prompt for different parts of the week! If you want to discuss something, hit me on PM or plurk