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[crystallinememories]

Hello! This is Raha's phone. Sorry that I couldn't answer, but leave me a message or text me.

Comments

[thavnairian]

sorry! it's not my place to say, even if i knew anything about what he did specifically. i'm not a scholar in the slightest and i'm afraid i'd probably just confuse you more

[Not a lie but also not the complete truth, either... He's afraid Raha will remember something right now, since he learned that's a thing that can happen.]

rigid, organized, and hell bent on forcing everyone to be supposedly "equal" under their system... except that pureblooded garleans will always get preferential treatment over those they conquer and draft into their wars. they claim that everyone else's ways are antiquated, but their caste system is no better than anyone else's. and by forcing the people they defeat into becoming their army, it's a self-sustaining machine of war when they get started.

it's only recently that rebellion has begun to loosen the empire's grip on everyone else.

i should also mention that magic, which we call aether, can be harnessed by most people on my world except for the garleans. so they turned to technology and innovation in order to defend themselves, then they wanted more, and of course nothing says "submit or die" better than a large cannon pointed at one's capital city

the island i hail from has an oath of neutrality to keep trade flowing all over, but i'll be honest... the empire's military make trouble anywhere they go, acting like they own the place

also, thank you for the bit about my face. i'll take it as a compliment

[crystallinememories]

[Yup that certainly has some similarities to empires or empire-wannabes from this world, so... yeah he endorses breaking their toys.]

That is how many empires tend to operate, though here they are pretty much entirely reliant on weaponry and propaganda. At least on the surface, though I'm sure many of them would publicly decry magic if they knew it existed.

It was meant to be, though now I'm worried it didn't sound like one!

[thavnairian]

oh i have no doubt there's propaganda, too. there would probably be more if they believed we could read

actually... did you know about magic before a few days ago? normally i have natives telling me i don't exist, so... you know... this is an improvement. not complaining, just curious!

don't worry, even if it wasn't you're cute enough that anyone would forgive you

[crystallinememories]

[Amal can probably hear the resulting fluster even over text. He does not know how to respond!! To being called cute!! Luckily he knows how to talk about magic instead.]

I did. My family tends to have a bit of a knack for the paranormal, and I've known about it since I was young. My degree is actually focusing on stories I believe may be related to people's experience with the Spirit Realm.

[thavnairian]

[He can't help it. Or rather he can but he won't. Just because Raha doesn't remember him doesn't mean Amal won't tease.]

that... makes a lot of sense! i expected more panic. there's usually more panic. then they see my pointy ears and panic more

if you plan on diving headfirst into any of the portals that pop up, make sure you go with someone who can fight. i'm not bad with a sword, but i don't mind lending you a knife or two either

[crystallinememories]

I'll admit, pointed ears are not something that's common but it's hardly something I'd panic over.

I may need to take you up on that. I know a little bit of magic, but nothing that would be helpful in a fight. [not that having a knife would really help him much.]

[thavnairian]

all your brotherhood of the bracelet movers are real! though i think i'm better looking than the blonde guy who makes the same face in every scene, but that's just my personal opinion.

[He likes the hobbits the most.]

you've been studying magic already? what kind of things do you know?

[GODS ABOVE, he really is an insatiable nerd no matter the world.]

[crystallinememories]

You only think so? [he doesn't know Amal super well yet, but he feels like he'd have more certainty over something like that.

Also yes the hobbits are great.]

Ah, really all I've done is made my eyesight better, so I can see the same in the dark as in light. I've been too caught up in research to learn much else.

[Also guess why that's the skill he picked up. Just guess.]

[thavnairian]

oh please don't feed my ego, darling. i need to be able to fit into a size 18 for work~

[... Yeah this sounds like a G'raha Solution to a G'raha Problem, honestly.]

did one too many people tell you that reading in the dark is bad for your eyes?

that could be useful though! i'm sure a few days ago you didn't consider regular run-ins with monsters to be a concern, but now... well, that's what people like me are for

[crystallinememories]

Well, they did, but it was more the difficulty of it that really swayed me.

[How could you have possibly known.

I hadn't really considered that. I suppose the awareness will be helpful, if nothing else.

[thavnairian]

wow. you really are something... just don't get hurt trying to prove yourself to people with their eyes closed, all right?

i certainly can't see in the dark, so you've got a leg up already

[crystallinememories]

I don't know why I'd try to prove such a thing nor how I could hurt myself doing it.

Then perhaps I'll manage to be of some help after all.

[thavnairian]

[Hah. If only he knew the ways.]

magic can be dangerous. and also fun! just be careful.

i have no doubt about that.

[crystallinememories]

[Look he's not the one who repeatedly throws himself into the lifestream ok. Though he does realize they've gotten a bit off topic.]

Are you well versed in the magic from your world?

And I was going to offer, especially since you've been so willing to answer my myriad of questions, that if you need help adjusting to anything here that I'd be happy to help. I realize you've been here quite a while so you may not need as much of it, but I did offer to help someone else with computers as they're rather necessary for most things around here.

[thavnairian]

sadly no. i'm more of a... dabbler. my friends at home are the brilliant ones, i just learned how to mend wounds a little so i wouldn't be stuck watching on the sidelines all the time

hmmm... that's not a bad offer. i'm pretty handy with these phone things by now, but i don't own a computer. we have them back home but they're... inelegant, room-sized things trying to read data from thousands of years ago... or they're evil and want to destroy all life. i decided not to bother with one here just in case.

[A pause.]

do you need a place to live? there are still a couple of empty bedrooms in the house i bought. no pressure, though! we're strangers stuck in the same annoying situation.

[Amal to Amal: STOP LYING STOP LYING STOP LYING STOP LYING]

[crystallinememories]

[You just keep giving him more and more questions about your world, Amal...]

You say that like it's nothing. Hopefully I'll never had need to see you use such skills, but from what I've heard of things so far I doubt we'd be so lucky.

There are still some rather large computers around for particularly complicated tasks, but the sort most people use are significantly smaller. And I'm 95% sure that none of them are evil.

[He's... mostly joking? Sometimes he hears about new projects in AI and gets a bit concerned though.]

I'm in a flat right now, but my roommate is set to defend and graduate soon, so I actually do need to start looking for roommates or a new place to stay. Are you sure it wouldn't be a bother?

[He assumes Amal is likely just casually looking for roommates to help pay rent, and it would make certain elements a lot easier to stay with people who are paranormally aware, much less whatever else this network and all will get them wrapped up in...]

[thavnairian]

only a 5% chance of being evil? i'll take those odds.

[He thinks G'raha is joking. Probably. Either way, it's funny and he'll totally play along.]

not at all. it's a huge house. just me and ghaleon here, and our various feathered and scaled friends. the only thing to note is that i work nights, so you might hear me come back at about two in the morning. shouldn't be a problem if you're not a light sleeper

ghaleon is another far traveler like me. he's more of the... magical type, so i bet he can teach you some things about where he's from if you ask.

[crystallinememories]

You have pets? What kind?

Honestly, I'm usually still awake doing work at that time, so it's unlikely to bother me regardless.

I certainly would ask, so I hope he wouldn't mind the millions of questions I'm bound to have.

[thavnairian]

'pet' is not the proper word to encapsulate everything that a chocobo is, especially one of Lady Dansara's caliber. she is not only a traveling companion, but she can carry me and a friend to any destination and fight (small) dragons by herself. she has beauty as well as brawn!

anshu is definitely a pet, though. he just followed me home through a spirit portal because i had food. he's a bird of some kind, totally harmless

i think ghaleon is nice! i don't know him very well because he keeps to himself, but he's funny. he has some kind of lizard-y dragon snake thing, it's cute

[crystallinememories]

[Raha has no idea what a chocobo is, but Amal's description is utterly charming.]

Well now I certainly have to meet her. Assuming she'll deign to grace me with her presence, that is.

[ah yes, this is cementing his impression that Amal's not being picky about roommates. Clearly this is nothing out of the ordinary.]

An unconventional set of animals, but likely good company all the same.

[thavnairian]

Lady Dansara is always prepared for a royal audience! she sleeps out behind the house next to the chicken coop but she also likes to be with me wherever i am, so i'll go outside and sit on the porch, and she'll lay her head in my lap. i'm sure she'll like you if that's what you're worried about

[She had carried a weakened G'raha from Syrcus Tower to Mor Dhona not so long ago (after Amal had carried him down all those stairs).]

they're the best company. especially dansara...

i spent a lot of impossibly cold nights curled up with her in the dark. when the storms were the worst, she'd hide me beneath her wings like a chick, and we'd shake off ilms of snow in the morning... a few times, she brought me directly to the healers when i was too cut up to move.

that's the thing about adventuring—if you do it alone, you won't last long.

[crystallinememories]

That's very sweet.

[He has to mull over that for a bit, because that description probably shouldn't make him a bit wistful, but... it does. He is a voracious learner, and while he's spent most of his life feeding his appetite for knowledge with books, he can't deny that he periodically dreams of just... going off on some grand adventure, learning things through experience and personal discovery. Coming to America to study was a bit of a small scale version of that, but the idea of having someone to share it with just hooks into him a little bit.]

Honestly, that sounds wonderful. I wish I had someone to go on adventures with like that.

[thavnairian]

[Amal is thankful this is over text because if this was video or voice he would break. As it is, he doesn't respond right away. It... hurts. To be so close. To help him without being able to tell him...

It's agonizing.]

all you have to do is ask

[He's said it before, and he'll say it again.]

who wouldn't want to go on an adventure with you?

[crystallinememories]

[Likewise, it takes Raha a bit longer to respond that it strictly should. He's sure Amal's just saying that- they hardly know each other, after all, there's no reason for him to... but still...

Something about that just makes him feel so happy.]

Then maybe we should, sometime.

[He doesn't expect it to ever happen. But... it would be nice.]

[thavnairian]

ever seen the countryside from horseback?

[They ride horses here instead of chocobos, last he checked.]