touchscreens | First Lance

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First Lance - [video]

[The rat woman who may have been seen atop various buildings across the city appears on the screen, sans hat, looking unsure for a moment before appearing to realize the feed is working correctly. She clears her throat quietly before speaking in a serious manner.]

I have a question for you all, if you would be so kind as to answer.

There seem to be many worlds represented in this city, but I have noticed that there are many from a planet called Earth. I am from the planet Gaia, but I have yet to meet anyone from my world, be it the same or an alternate version.

So my question is: What world are you from, and is it similar to this place we've found ourselves in? I would like to see if there is any correlation between the home worlds of people brought here.

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Does Burmecia have some kind of defense against the monsters? [ Curious, because from how she's describing it that doesn't sound like a good spot for a city. ]

[ While he is relieved to have something he can talk more easily about--the slight perk of interest when she mentions chocobos is completely genuine. ]

There are other vehicles to use for short distances on my world, but we do use chocobos. They're reliable, especially for crossing uneven terrain like a marsh. Sometimes they're raced for entertainment, too. We've had airships as well, but they weren't used by most people. Shinra controlled those.

Dragon Knights like myself and the walls of our city usually protect us from them. [The fact that she's been gone from Burmecia a couple years aside. Yeah, it's not the greatest locale, but it's home.]

Raced for entertainment? [She looks curious for a moment, thinking it over.] I have not heard of that, but I suppose I would not be surprised if it were to happen somewhere...

"Shinra"? Is that the name of a kingdom or royalty? [Huge monopolizing companies? What are those.]

Dragon Knights... [ That's interesting for a few reasons--first, because he's pretty sure if he'd been born in older times, he'd have wanted to become a knight. The second reason being it makes it sound like she was born in older times, and he wonders for a few seconds if that could possibly be the difference--Zack's kind of behind too, looking at it that way.

...But on the other hand, he's pretty sure, from knowing Cid that airships are a recent invention. And the "Mist" she's mentioned isn't ringing a bell. But at least he's prepared to be less surprised when she thinks Shinra is a kingdom. ]

...In a way, they might as well have been. But they were actually a business. They controlled everything by controlling the economy.

Yes. It is our duty to protect Burmecia from any threats it may face. [... even if she's been slacking the past few years and didn't do so well the last time she tried. Shh, don't tell anyone.]

A business? [The only real businesses she's encountered have been individual shops. To think that a single business could gain so much power... Well, it's a little out there to her.]

What do you mean when you say "everything"? [Certainly a business couldn't conquer the whole planet. Could it?]

[ He will never tell because he is like the last person to talk about occasionally messing up your goal by a long shot, it's okay Freya. ]

Shinra was the one to discover mako technology. There's hardly a place in the world the company didn't touch. Outside of Midgar and Junon it wasn't as extreme, but a lot of small towns relied on Shinra as well. Mako's much more efficient than steam or coal, so nearly everyone turned to using it. And Shinra used that money to buy power: a city the company controlled, the news everyone watched...[ weapons and a private army, but that goes unsaid. ] Things like that.

I... see.

[It really does sound like the sort of power a kingdom would have. She guesses the power comes exclusively with the money and not with the line of succession... It's a bit different than what she's familiar with, but it isn't too far fetched once she thinks about it.]

What became of this Shinra?

[ Actually explaining would be a long story he'd find tough to stomach telling in the best circumstances, but he's been anticipating something along this question since they started this line of discussion. ]

The control at the top crumbled. They lost a lot of their leaders at once. [ The senior president, Rufus, Hojo, Scarlet and Heidegger. Palmer and Reeve were the only executives left from the board. And Palmer had always been kind of useless on his own; from what Cloud knew he was holed up, doing his damnedest to avoid the fallout from Meteorfall. ] What was left wasn't appealing for anyone to try taking over. Too many problems.

Then it collapsed? [She's all too aware how fleeting power can be. Her kingdom fell in less than a week; how could a company fare any better?] It must have been difficult to adjust to, if they controlled so much.

It's just a shadow of what it was now. The world... it's different. It's... [ Better with the Planet not dying, or worse with so many people dying? Great options here. ] Not easy for people, yeah.

[Well, if the planet dies, everyone dies, right? ~~At least their souls aren't being dispersed into monster-spawning fog?~~]

I hope that things improve for your world--for both of our worlds. My own Gaia is currently in the midst of a war, and I can only imagine how it will end.

[ ~~Well yes. They were being leeched from the earth and consumed for evil energy before, but that's stopped at least.~~. ]

Quickly, hopefully. [ because no matter which side wins, a war still means sadness for both. ]

Yes. I suppose I will have to do my part in ending it quickly. [But that's a though for another time.]

Thank you for explaining things about your Gaia... oh, we haven't exchanged names yet, have we? My name is Freya Crescent.

[ Huh. Her name even sounds like one you'd find in Gaia. ...Well, not the "Freya", but he knows he's heard "Crescent" as a family name somewhere. ] Oh--Cloud. Strife.

[Crescents come packaged with a sad love story, don't you know.]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Cloud. [And she means that. Even if they don't come from the same world, having someone from another Gaia here is a little comforting.]

Mm. Nice to meet you. [ A little nod. To him this exchange just seems mostly manners, but she has given him some interesting things to think about. Differences and similarities between worlds... ]

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First Lance - [video]

[video] aww. <3 Freya is lovely btw.

[video] waah thanks! <3

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