Twilight Intersections

Twilight Intersections
Date of Scene:	14 October 2012
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	A short meeting in Traverse Town between a lost crusader of Yevon, a snarky semi-heartless, a hunter with a new toy and the Twilight Detective Agency. Culture shock ensues.
Cast of Characters:	Mercade Alexander, Reynold Sargis, Avira, Riku

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Riku has posed:
Riku finds himself stalling around Traverse Town again. It was sort of ironic that this was one of the few portal failures he actually wasn't angry with. He hadn't really wanted to go home anyways.

Riku rubs his tired eyes, even the twilight of the city seeming a little too bright for his eyes. He takes a seat on a bench with a hot chocolate he had indulged in after leaving the hotel he'd crashed in for the night. He takes in a deep breath of the rich chocolate, putting one arm across the back of the bench.

After a long and languid sip of the chocolate he sets the cup aside and pulls out a black leather bound journal, turning to a fresh page and beginning to sketch out the terrain with short, quick strokes with a small black pencil.

Avira has posed:
One shower, one dinner with Will, and one day later, Avira had covered quite a bit of ground. First order of business was, of course, dropping by Rabanastre and showing off the proof that she'd helped take down some huge Heartless. It hadn't been the first fight without her guild, but it was the first one she had physical proof with her. Now it's gone slightly to her head.

Now she wants to get something made out of her little pieces of dark glass. Dark shards, even. Reportedly there were people in Traverse Town that could make this happen.

Avira is only now able to show up, having left Rabanastre earlier in the morning. In spite of lost time, she still remains undeniably cheerful, tossing a piece of her glass up and down in the air as she walks.

Reynold Sargis has posed:
It seems as of late that all sorts of people are pouring in to Traverse Town.

Speaking of...

An odd sight seems to be roaming the streets. Someone that seems incredibly out of place. Well, more so than usual. A heavily armored individual seems to be walking the streets, drawing eyes to itself. Armor, white and gold, gleaming in what little light is present. A weighted bastard sword sheathed on their back. Gigantic tower shield in the left hand. This six foot figure seems lost... and rather confused at the look of the District. "What a curious look..." It says in a male voice, blue eyes cascading over buildings.

Whoever is in the wall of plate armor sounds younger than what one would expect from a six foot tall knight of their caliber. The walkway clinks with every footstep. It is easily hear, of course. "Hey there, you..." is heard from afar. "Yes, you." Riku may find that this conversation is directed at him, as the footsteps get closer. "Pardon the interruption, but..."

"Where am I?"

It seems a step through a portal, and some travel had ended him in Traverse Town. Last he remembered he was in Bevelle. Wasn't he? It seems hazy. A look is cat towards someone else in the area, almost juggling some kind of dark thing. How peculiar.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade has a funny expression on his face.

Its probably because he's remembering the taste of all the Potions he had to drink after he went to Rabanastre.

He's not going back there again for a while. The detective is hanging out with Avira, following her around with a coffee, which he is drinking quickly. Probably to get something else in him other than Potions. "Anyway, Avira..." He pauses, suddenly wincing at the clanking. "Oh god, why does this happen?" He glares in the direction of the wall of metal moving through the area, and then pauses. "Wait. Who's that guy and why is he talking to... Riku? Huh." He gestures towards the pair.

Riku has posed:
Riku looks up as he sketches, recognizing Mercade and Avira out of the corner of his vision. He continues to sketch, waiting until they are closer to say " You should be careful with that, Avira. I wouldn't trust anything left behind by the heartless."

He pauses, glancing at the configuration of a building before going back to sketching. He looks to Mercade. "I see you are still sans hat, and possibly wallet as well. Will's been on a food excursion lately." He has an expression of 'Oh great, it's another one' when he looks towards Reynold. He takes in a deep breath and sighs, putting the pencil down as he tilts his head over towards the wall of metal nearby.

He composes his face into a less annoyed expression, looking them over while taking another sip of the hot chocolate. "This would be Traverse Town. It's a haven for people who have lost their way. Who are you?"

Avira has posed:
So sad. Avira would have rather had the chance to give Mercade a proper tour. Instead he was stuck lying in an inn guzzling potions. At least Avira was able to keep him unhassled by the guards? "Hmmm?" she hums at Mercade, looking over her shoulder at him. Whatever he wanted to say was probably not what follows, and that is drawing attention to the huge guy in the armor.

"Whoah." Avira gapes. "I have no idea. The armor reminds me of a judge, but they don't carry tower shields like that. A...crusader maybe?" She's quick to venture closer to get a better look, searching for any sort of symbol or emblem that would identify an affiliance.

Riku's warning about her little token makes the huntress stop tossing it up and down, instead holding it between her thumb and pointer finger. "Really?" she sounds interested, probably to Riku's dismay, "So it might be able to do things like...I dunno, attract Heartless?" Just the way she says it gives off the impression that she's suddenly full of bad ideas.

Reynold Sargis has posed:
Reynold seems rather... uncomfortable. Like he is out of his element. He does not belong here... does he?

"Traverse Town..." he repeats slowly. "I do believe I might have lost my way. A portal of some kind." A pause. Before he gets to answer whom he is, Avira looks closer. He seems to have the symbol of Yevon on one of his shoulders, but lacks the proper attire coloration or accessories that truly denotes someone as from the church.

"I am Reynold Sargis. Guardi--" He stops abruptly. "Paladin." While he does not seem to react to the mentioning of Judge, saying Crusader seems to get his attention for a moment.

"What is this place known for? How did that portal send me here? I was meant to go elsewhere..." A readjustment of his helmet, and Reynold speaks again. "My apologies. I didn't quite get your names. Sorry again for intruding upon what you were doing." The armored fellow seems to gaze towards what Riku was drawing for a bit, before turning to Avira. "Careful with um, whatever that is you were juggling. Don't want to break it." Where did that come from? It seemed rather forced though on Reynold's part. Trying to do the good samaritan thing?

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"He looks like he's straight out of a D&D handbook." Mercade mumbles to Avira, before walking up to the pair and giving a wave. "Hey there, both of you. I'll make sure to give Will a noogie. He's only supposed to steal my wallet at designated times. As for my hat..." Mercade looks crestfallen. "I'll figure out a way to get it back eventually."

He looks to the armored man. "Hey there. Name's Mercade Alexander, of the Twilight Detective Agency. Good to meet you." He flicks a hand and presents a business card. He must have practiced that move for a while.

The card is as the bbpost 9/2, for the sake of brevity.

"What brings you to Traverse Town?"

Riku has posed:
Riku doesn't seem to be in a helpful mood. At least that hasn't changed since last night. " It might. It could also poison you, or turn your hair white, or maybe it impossible to speak in anything except song lyrics. Whose to say."

He listens to Reynolds for awhile with a raised eyebrow, then gestures to the bench nearby. "Sit down, Reynold. That's what Traverse Town is also good for. They put a lot of benches down so that people can suffer their confusion in comfort." They were also probably enchanted not to break because you never knew who would be sitting on them. Riku raises his drink.

"And with suitable food and drink. Don't mind the detective over there. He really is trying to help. It's only his lack of hat that makes him come off as a car salesman." he gestures with his hot chocolate. "My name is Riku, that is Mercade and the lady with the shard is Avira."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade winces at the mention of 'car salesman'. "Yeah, it's kind of terrible." He glances over at Avira, wondering if she might succumb to that fate worse than death of being stuck in a musical. Forever.

Avira has posed:
"...steal your wallet at..." That D&D comment goes untouched. Realization of a different flavor strikes her notice. "Oh...oh, he paid for dinner yesterday, I hope that didn't take too big a bite out of your funds." Gradually she seems to catch the implication of such a thing and her face turns a little red.

Now she can definitely tell that Reynold has a symbol there, but she is largely unfamiliar with the church of Yevon. Hearing 'paladin' cements the fact that he was a religious knight of some kind. "Avira." she offers when Reynold turns his attention her way. "I am Avira. I don't have any business cards like he does. I am a hunter."

That dark shard certainly is put away at this point as she certainly doesn't want a lot of attention called to it. "Sounds like it could use a bit of research, then." she murmurs, also thinking that being stuck in song lyric mode might not be as bad as Riku makes it sound.

Reynold Sargis has posed:
Suddenly, another fellow! "Hello! Reynold. Reynold Sargis." The young man graciously accepts the card, and seems to tuck it away somewhere behind the shield after examining it. "I, uh." the Paladin seems perplexed for a second. "I do not know. I was en route to my hometown, when there was this portal, and I foolishly stepped inside. I have no idea where I am now. Well, besides this town here now."

"It is nice to meet you all," Reynold mentions as he takes his seat. The bench creaks, but does not break! A quirked look is given to the detective. He would look good in a hat, he figures. Seems like a bite to eat would be good, as well. Maybe after he talks to these denizens more.

The figure seems to set down his tower shield daintily against a bench. "Nice to meet you... Avira." He seems to make sure he pronounces it correctly. "So this is a place of respite you say?" A pause. "What do I do now..." he seems to say to no one in particular. "So much going on from where I came, and I am no telling how far from home... Seems like everything is in turmoil."

Riku has posed:
"Maybe that'd be best, Avira." Riku takes another sip of his hot chocolate, closing his eyes and settling back on the bench tilting his head up at the sky. He takes in several long, steadying breaths of the warm pleasant smells coming from shops, the trees and flowers that spring here and there even in the most crowded areas, the constant murmur of people moving about the town with a quasi-subdued bustle.

"And that's up to you. I could probably help you get back home if that's what you want. I've made a few maps of the local portals. Some are much more stable than the one you probably came through. Tell me a little bit about your world, and I'll see if I've heard of it before. Is it a place of magic?" he opens an eye to look at Reynold speculatively.

"You don't look like you come from a world of machines."

Avira has posed:
Avira watches on with fascination as Reynold sits down on that bench. She seems to be waiting for it to break under his weight-that armor must weigh a ton!-but alas, this does not happen. Judging by the creaking, it sounds like it wants to. Though fascinated, she does add to Riku's benefit about this dark shard business, "Last thing I want is for this thing to corrupt me or something crazy like that."

But on that note, she does give Reynold a bit of a sad look. "Everything is kind of in turmoil right now. Sounds like you haven't seen a Heartless yet?" Riku's intimate knowledge of portals and maps is mentally noted for a little later. Rather than interrupt him with requests to see his notes, she looks to Reynold.

Curiosity. It's pretty clear she wants to hear about his world too.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Well... So you're lost." Mercade says, crossing his arms and leaning back on one foot. "It's okay, it happens to a lot of people. I admit, I was confused as hell too when I ended up here for the first time." He taps his chin. "To summarize, worlds are getting eaten by a wave of evil darkness beasts called The Heartless. A lot of people who get caught by these things end up here or in other connected worlds. Some of us are looking for ways to stop the Heartless and restore our worlds. Also, there's people who can control the Heartless who seem to generally be univerally douchebags. That's just the executive summary."

Mercade grins, then. "But enough about that for the moment. Your world sounds pretty interesting. Tell us about it! What's it like there? What kind of people live there? Any interesting wildlife?"

Reynold Sargis has posed:
"Well," Reynold begins with. "It is Spira. A land of magic and machine, though the latter is frowned upon condemned among most. I personally do not, but." The church which raised him sure does. "There is much magic there. Though... I do not believe I was brought here by accident. Besides, there was such a darkness sweeping the land unlike any that my land was used to..."

"I digress. I appreciate the offer but... I would like to remain here for a time. I am no veteran of battle yet. Would probably fall to the new threat." While it sounds like a cowardly move for a paladin, he knows when to hold, and when to fold. That was definitely a time to fold.

"It is?" A pause. "So this place is affected too..." A look is given to Avira that gives away that he does not know what this Heartless thing is, though without knowing it, he has fought them a time or two. Small ones. A shake of the head will answer her question. "Why is it called such a thing? Does it have no heart, I take it?"

He really just said that. Mercade seems to help describe the situation well. It sounded like Sin was touching all the worlds around as well, but sad part is... Sin was nowhere to be found when this all started, and the creatures acted much differently. "These... Heartless, as you call them sound like the things that assaulted Bevelle and Luca on my world. I was in between travelling to Luca when I was attacked myself. I thought I was going to fall when a portal showed up. And... I ended up here."

"Oh, it is wonderful, though, we had similar problems since long ago. Just not quite as.... world-conquering." Sin targetted sacreligious locations and was banished often by summoners. The Heartless just seemed to... attack everywhere. "I couldnt call any other place home, haha. I will say that."

Riku has posed:
"Yes. Crazy." Riku responds in a flat voice, opening his eyes again and squinting at the twilight. He grumbles "That'll change quick." in response to Aviar's comment about the heartless. He sets down his hot chocolate, starting to sketch again while Mercade and Reynold talk.

"Yep. " he agrees to Mercade without looking up "They do tend to be monsters once you scratch the surface." he smirks down at his drawing, pausing for a long moment before continuing to rough in the shape of the nearby foliage. "Ah. Well, that's pretty much it for the primer. Heartless Bad. The ones who control them are jerks who eat people, and-- wait. " he stops drawing, flipping a few pages.

"Ah. I have heard of Luca. Just not of anything else you were saying." he makes a few notes in his journal before flipping back to the picture. "So I suppose you'll wander about until you find a worthy cause to latch onto? There's a bunch of those, these days."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"I don't... actually know." Mercade says. "Most people don't seem to know anything about the Heartless' nature, or why they act as they do, and the ones who do know aren't talking, apparently. I hear they're attracted most to people with strong hearts, but what does that even mean? Does it mean that they're repulsed by fatty foods and cholesterol, or are we going for a religion-nonspecific definition of 'soul' here? I have no clue."

Mercade gets snarky sometimes. He snaps a finger, as if he's remembering sometihing. "Oh, right. Riku, I found one of those people you were looking for. Spiky hair. big shoes, has a giant key. Sora, right? Yeah, saw him here a couple days ago. He helped deal with a problem we were having. What's with the big key, anyway? He was smacking Heartless around with it like they were baseballs."

Avira has posed:
Slowly, Avira smiles. "So a bit of a novice then, eh." She doesn't really expand on this fascination all the sudden, all too happy to have Reynold continue to describe Spira. "Spira is unfamiliar to me, I don't think I've found parts of that world yet." %R
Unbeknownst to her, this isn't quite true, which she learns when he brings up the name of the city Luca. "Wait, that sounds familiar. The Blitzball place...? Err, sorry, yes, that's basically it with Heartless. I'm not sure about the details, these are all things I've heard from other people. They're mostly black, with glowing eyes, but I've seen them come in other sizes and shapes."

Reynold Sargis has posed:
Reynold looks around some, before nodding to Riku. Such a unique place this is. So... whimsical. "Yes... I suppose that will be my next course of action. My charge was pretty much null once these Heartless attacked. I will need to find a new cause." Hopefully one with some revenge in store for the accursed black creatures as well.

Most of what Mercade says seems to go over Reynold's head, though the final sentence or so gives him a thought. "It is not uncommon from where I come from for people to have exotic weaponry designed specifically for them with some significant meaning." Not that he knew jack crap of what the keys actually did yet. Ah, what it is like to be a newcomer.

"Yes! The famous Blitzball arena, attraction for many. Have you been there?" he asks. He seems unusually interested. He has not seen how it has held up to the Heartless yet. He was heading there when... yeah. "Well, the more variations of this plague there are, the more that can fall to my blade," he comments. "These things are obviously malign in nature."

Riku has posed:
Riku snorts at Mercade's confusion over the 'strong' of heart. He chuckles, taking up his hot chocolate briefly. "Yeah, so I've heard." his teeth grit only slightly at the mention of a giant key. "I don't know. I think whatever it is, he needs the practice. It's good that he's alright though." he pauses, then asks. " Was there.. a girl with him by any chance? Kairi? " he flips pages of the journal again, holding up a competantly drawn image of the three of them with the third member, Kairi, sitting up against a rock while the other two stand.

They look younger in this picture, the beach background and nearby ocean only sketched in briefly, it's details mostly lost. "I've heard of this before.. " Riku turns to regard Reynold. "--but I've never actually seen what it is. What is blitzball? A sport of some kind?"

How anybody could be doing that during an invasion, he didn't know, but the sea of stars is a big place. The Heartless can't be everywhere all the time. At least-- he had thought not, but every time he want's some peace and quiet he ends up running into them again.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"That must have been hell." Mercade mentions to Riku in response. "No, I didn't see any girl there. He looked like he was looking for something but he didn't mention what. He was really keeping to himself, really. Odd, really. He looks like he'd be the kind of person who'd be more open." He shrugs.

Mercade tilts his head. "Blitzball? Sounds like a sport of some kind."

Riku has posed:
Riku looks a little confused as Mercade mentions Sora keeping /anything/ to himself but doesn't comment on it. He does comment however, on Mercade repeating what he just said. "You don't say." Riku finishes his hot chocolate and puts the cup aside as he pulls the journal back into his lap. He lingers on the picture for a few seconds, then flips back to his drawing of the town and sets to it again.