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| No title. |
| (2014-03-26 - Now) |
| No description. |
| Artemis Eurus | It is obvious Artemis has been nervous about this meeting. Where to even begin? Everything she'd even known has been turned on its head. This is difficult for so many reasons. Mostly though, she is concerned for Ramza and the other's safety. Being around her...well...from experience, it didn't ever seem to end well. Artemis is waiting at a small camp in the forest. She'd given Ramza directions to find her and left an obvious trail. He'll find her seated with her back to a large tree trunk, her back straight and her legs crossed, meditating. She appears as she always has, no darkness drifting about her form as it does when she embraces the Huntress. Just a in leather leggins and a tunic, a katana across her lap and a mask obscuring the upper half of her face. It would take a bit longer now, to see just how she has changed. |
| Ramza Beoulve | And at the appointed time, Ramza came down the trail, his booted feet crunching upon twigs. He had some inkling of what to expect, due to the loose tongue of a man in a tavern, and thus it would have been wiser to come with someone at his side, right? In another time and place, even Artemis would have advised that, since Artemis had become an unknown factor. And yet here he was, alone. Mailed hands pulling his cloak away from some brush where it had caught upon, towards the meditating figure. And then he stood there, waiting, watching. He knew better than to interrupt her during such rituals. His eyes searching for.. signs of what might have changed in her. He wasn't certain he would like the answer, but it was something he had to know. |
| Artemis Eurus | When she hears him approaching (stealth was never really his strong suit) her eyes open. Her shoulders tighten somewhat at the sight of him, along with a small but sharp intake of breath are about the only signs that she is anxious. For her, that's still a good bit. Artemis stands then, looking around briefly to see if he brought anyone with him. She wouldn't have blamed him, but it seems he came alone. "Ramza..." she begins, pressing her lips together for a moment. "It is good to see you...good to see you are well," she says. Oh gods, where does she begin? "I'm sorry that it took me so long to contact you. I've...been trying to figure myself out, and figure out if it was safe to speak to you," she continues, keeping her eyes on him. Something is different in her gaze. She'd always been world-weary, her life had been full of tragedy, but the look she has now goes beyond that. Like her soul is simply exhausted. "A lot has changed for me...and I owe you an explanation. Have a seat?" she says, motioning to a rolled up cloak she's been using to sit on. |
| Ramza Beoulve | Stealth was the one part of the ninja job Ramza had never mastered. He could throw anything with uncanny accuracy, but when it came to being undetected, he just never invested enough JP. And thus when she hears him, and rises, he takes a breath of his own. "Artemis." There was so much more he wanted to say, but for now, he decided to let her take the conversation at her own pace, "Fain forgive me, I was never good at this. I'm happy to see you again as well." "You were out sorts, I understand. Please..." He looks into her eyes, and perhaps he sees some of that world-weariness, that exhaustion, but he wonders if there isn't more to it, as he seats himself at the indicated cloak, "...just start from the beginning, and we'll take it from there." |
| Artemis Eurus | Artemis takes a deep breath and lets it out slow, nodding, before she sets about making tea. "I'll make tea, the motions will help me think. Heh, it is one of the things that always remains the same it seems," she comments. If he shows confusion over this remark, she doesn't address it. Not yet. "Forgive you? Tch...stop. It is I that will have to ask forgiveness...except I don't really dare to do so," she continunes, shaking her head. "The beginning..." she starts, placing water over her small fire to heat while she rinses the small clay cups she'd use to serve the tea. "Do you remember how the Dennous were in trouble with someone named Feige? I owed them, for saving me from being captured by that templar. They called upon me for aid, and I accompanied them and other from the Twilight Detective Agency to Castle Oblivion. You know if it, yes?" she asks, but continues. "I saw inside a man's heart...inside his life in that place. The things I saw, I didn't know were possible. He came from another world, an alternate world...a world in which all his friends died. The very friends who stood with him. It was them...but yet...it wasn't. There are other worlds out there, other places where we exist in other incarnations it seems..." Artemis shakes her head again, repressing a shudder. "After that...I had dreams. Not the sort of dreams I used to have, not dreams of my past or fears of my future but /true/ dreams, so real...memories. I began to suspect that these dreams were indeed memories...some window into other lives I've lived. I know, this sounds crazy. Maybe I am mad...but I fear more that I'm /not/ and that is what I've planned for." "I was drawn back to Castle Oblivion. I cannot explain it...it was as if it was suddenly the only path in front of me...I had to know. Now I do," she continues, preparing leaves for the tea, placing small bits of the dried, rolled leaves inside the cups and adding the water once it has boiled. She passes him his tea, but doesn't touch her own. Artemis meets his eyes, her burning with the same quiet intensity as he'd known, but somehow /more/. Its obvious she believes what she is telling him to be true, and that it has shaken her to the core. "I remember half a dozen lives Ramza...they're all crammed into my mind. I remember things that don't make sense and yet are /right/. Sometimes...you are there. Faruja I have met as well. Some people, I remember different...versions--I don't know how to explain--of themselves. These lives, they are wildly different...but a few events remains the same in /ever single one/" she says, pausing now to let him speak. She's sure he can at least guess which events she's talking about. |
| Ramza Beoulve | Ramza doesn't really respond to the awkward start, other than smiling as she offers to make tea, and waving off the offer for forgiveness. Possibly it was part of his ridiculous modesty, in saying that she didn't have to apologize to him. "Yes. I know of it. And I know full well of the power of such places." Although in his case, it was a gentleman named the Mirror Master. Ramza punched him in the face for messing with his head. If he made one thing clear to him, it was that you do not make a mockery of his past. But after his comment, he falls silent once more, allowing her to continue speaking. Once she passes him the tea, he takes it, and looks up at her, "I understand. Someone once showed me a different version of my life as well. I never had the memories forced upon me, but I was shown visions of it." He takes a sip from his cup after taking in the aroma for a time, "It was a very trying experience for me. So I cannot even imagine what it must be like for you." Another pause, some hesitation, as she turns around the cup, "I have some guesses as to which events you are referring to, but I'd prefer you just tell me." |
| Artemis Eurus | Artemis nods, looking into the cup she hasn't even sipped the tea from. "Did you believe what you saw was real?" she asks. "It's...my brother. In each life it is the same. Something happens, something twists him...he kills our father. I swear vengeance and I go after him...I kill him. Sometimes, I die with him, sometimes I keep going with his blood on my hands....but every time, that is the same. What I saw in Castle Oblivion...I think it was to help me. This is a cycle. A cycle of bloodshed and violence...of slaying your own kin. I think this time...this time I /have/ to save him. Why else would I be shown all this? Given this knowledge? If I couldn't do anything with it?" she asks. "So...in that place...I embraced the darkness. The hunted had to become the hunter. The darkness...its a tool. A dangerous tool, a corrupting tool, I know...but I was led to believe it would be the tool I could use to take control of the Lucavi inside Louis, force it to MY Will...make it leave him..." she says, then continues, quieter; "Save him...save /us/..." Artemis straightens, swallowing hard. "You are free to scold me about how I should have trusted in you, and the other Braves...to help me with this. I trust you, I...well. My mind is twisted, Ramza...I realize I play with something dangerous, but I feel like it is the only way. If another could be found...? I will be open to a better way. Until then...I feel this is the path I must take. I have accepted guidance from a Shadow Lord because I believe he can help me in this...I do not fully trust him, but in this..." Artemis sighs heavily, looking away. "It is only a matter of time until they try to get me to play their games...and so only a matter of time until I make myself an enemy of them too. I did not want to involve you...protect you, perhaps, in my limited and foolish capacity." |
| Ramza Beoulve | "I believed it could be real. I'm not certain whether to believe it was real or not, but it did haunt me for a time." Another sip. But then Artemis describes the cycle, and this gives him considerable pause, setting down the teacup entirely. One of his hands clenches, and unclenches, as he huffs out a breath during the description of her embracing the darkness. However eventually he calms, and sets his hand at rest, his voice sedate in comparision to the previous gestures, "I do not actually mind that you embraced the darkness. It is not as if it didn't exist in our world after all. Ser Gafgarion was a greedy, selfish, evil man, but he was that before he took upon the techniques of a Dark Knight. It isn't that the Darkness is necessarily evil. It is simply that it holds power, and thus a lot of evil people choose to make use of it." Folding his hands just as sedately, he states, "I worry mostly about your motivations. If you did it with your typical discipline, then I wouldn't fear for you as much. However, you did it with the desire for a quicker path for vengeance. And now you are collaborating with those who would destroy all worlds for that..." Looking up to meet her eyes, he takes some time to gather his thoughts, and instead of continuing on the same train of thought, changes the subject, "Whose tutelate did you accept?" |
| Artemis Eurus | Artemis frowns deeply. "It was not the speed at which to attain my goal that I had in mind...only the effectiveness. I have tried to save him before...I thought..." she sighs, shaking her head. "A man named Seith. It was he who taught me to use the dark corridors...to control Heartless," she says, biting the inside of her cheek. "It isn't something I want to do. I do not want to destroy worlds, I simply want to save Louis...break this cycle before it destroys us /again/," she answers. "I suppose I cannot fault you for doubting my ability to handle this. I did this without consulting anyone. I was wrong, but I was...am...confused. Sometimes...sometimes it is difficult to remember who I am. Which /me/ I am. I wake up sometimes and it takes me so long to figure out where I am, to remember..." she trails off, her eyes distant. She shakes her head as if to clear the fog, looking back to him. "Seith. I do not serve him. I made that very clear. For whatever reason, he is willing to help me. I think, oddly enough, it is for the knowledge of just what will come of it. That is my reading of the man, anyway," she continues. "That said...Ramza, I don't plan to help them do these things. I have my honor, my oaths. This is why I think they will eventually grow unhappy with me, which if I were to stay with the Braves...it would put you all in danger. Tch, I know you are all used to danger, but you don't need anything more." "Now I'll ask...what would you have me do?" |
| Ramza Beoulve | "Fain forgive me for not being there for you during that time. Perhaps I might have helped you make sense out of all that you experienced." Again he listens to all of it, and he considers, weighing one idea, then the next. On and on down the progression. It's certainly not an easy thing to consider, and it's definitely outside of his comfort zone. At the end of it he still finds himself mostly at a loss. "Men like that are dangerous. Until you know his exact reasons then he will ever remain a wild card for anything we could plan." Tapping his fingers lightly upon the outer edge of the tea cup, his expression is abstracted, "I'm not comfortable with your choice at all, but I am not going to order you to do anything. Or even ask you to do anything. Tell me what you would do Artemis." He levels his chin, meeting her gaze. "And we'll figure the matter out from there." |