.1 caliber [Intro]

[goesawol]

[ACTION]

[She steps down from the bus and tugs at the strap around her shoulder tighter - she travels light, but there's something rather long, carefully wrapped, strapped between her bag and back. Squinting lightly at the warm summer sun, she sighs. Mixed feelings, all in one breath. This lady travels light except for the baggage in her mind.

Still, as she treads through the beaten paths towards an x in a map (excellent orientation skills, for one), she looks around carefully with what seems like a half smile in her piercing gaze. Yet, when she finds the place in the map, she keeps walking around, checking the Community center, the city, - greeting a couple of kids playing outside with a smile - walking through the beach... ending up finally at the Saloon around the evening, asking for a cup of tea at the counter.

Where do you meet her? ]


[VIDEO]

[That's exactly where she is when the video feed opens up. She's looking down at the screen, kohl rimmed eyes scrutinizing the device with a somewhat disappointed expression to them. She tsks.]

So unintuitive. How old is this?

[Dexterous fingers reach the screen and blip! goes the feed

Ring ring?]

Comments

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Hey, this setting popped up after a decade or so of roaming around as a monster without parallel, slowly murdering an entire world. Sometimes you just gotta roll with what life does.]

Oh yeah, probably same as you. [Jecht reaches for the tablet he'd shoved into the back of his shorts and forgotten about. Hey, Ana, mention that it isn't waterproof to him at some point?]

Oh hey, I'm near a river on this thing. All right!

[goesawol]

[Sorry Jecht, Ana is from the future. She's not used to tablets not being waterproof. You're on your own, buddy.]

You can't stay away from the water even if you tried, it seems. [A look to compare with her own map and, huh, the house she was given is also along that river as well.] I guess they have the area free.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Hey, this is supposed to be a happy place, right? And double happy since I got a good neighbor.

[Jecht crosses his other arm over his chest, curling up his fingers. Fistbump, Ana!]

[goesawol]

[A snort, and Ana fistbumps back casually, a smile more present in her eyes than her mouth. While the good mood is contagious, she can’t help but wonder one thing:] You’re not worried at all that this is some sort of trap?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Yeah, speaking of good moods, thanks for hitting his. His mouth never stops smiling, but his eyes... they're two other worlds away in that moment.]

Where I was... what I was... anything that can get me here from there doesn't need to do all this. Why set a trap for something you got in the palm of your hand?

[goesawol]

[She gives him an apologetic smile. I suppose. [Even if she... witnessed something really elaborate to kill just the one person not too long ago.

A sigh. That Jecht seems to come from a completely different place, both in terms of space and in the place in his life, it didn’t add up.

Why would a person with nothing to lose and another whose life goal was to protect what she hasn’t be taken to the same place?]

I guess there’s nothing else to do but start digging, hm?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[And then Jecht laughs, and sticks out an elbow to give her a playful nudge that's a little rough, like he is. But hey. She looks like she can take it.]

Naw. Nothing else to do but start living.

[goesawol]

[She can and she does, even if she pulls one shoulder tighter to her neck in a half-shrug. Fair is fair, and this guy seems like he really needs the break.]

And what are you thinking of doing, then, in this new life?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

I never did get to pull off my triumphant return to the sphere. 'Course the place needs a blitzball stadium in the first place for me to go back to it, so that might be something right there.

I got something to prove.

[It probably isn't what she thinks...]

[goesawol]

Not only you need a stadium, you need people in the stadium. [Not that she thinks that Jecht will have much trouble with that.]

Which is...? [Also a light tone in this question. He has been relatively discrete about his background, so she feels like asking, but not prying.]

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

There's someone chasing after me.

I can't let him catch up.

[And yet he's so happy about this.]

[goesawol]

Ah, an arch-rival, of sorts, then?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Heh, yeah. Spent all his life hearing that I was better than him. Hates me so much he'd do anything to get out of my shadow.

Damned if he hasn't done it, too.

[Considering the pride radiating off of him, in his small smile and soft words -- well, Ana, you're clearly digging into something weird, be ye warned.]

[goesawol]

[Ana is a mother, also a bit of a legend, and it's actually very easy for her to identify it.]

... your kid.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Jecht shoots her a sidelong glance.] Hey, if you already know the answers why am I tellin' you this?

[No, really, he figures it's a guess, and he doesn't mind.]

...If I got here, he can too. Don't know if he will. But there's a path.

[goesawol]

[She actually laughs at that.] I do not, but it takes a mother to know.

If there's a will...

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Wouldn't blame him if he went back to Spira though. He's... past chasing me. If he doesn't want to. Heh, he already got past me. [Jecht rubs at his head with the heel of his hand.] But no sense letting him rest easy.

[goesawol]

[She squints.] So when did this... healthy [she hopes] competition start?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Heh. Thought I wasn't gonna tell ya the whole sob story. [Yeah it's not so good.] Ran on longer than it should, let me tell ya that.

[goesawol]

Oh, you don't have to tell me. I was merely curious.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Aaah, maybe we'll trade someday. [Little note that she's getting a lot out of him and not offering much up at all. Not that he doesn't love talking about himself! But he's curious, he's gotta say.]

[Time enough for all that though.]

I'd say over drinks but that's past for me, so here's hoping you're the type that doesn't mind a guy staying too sober on a fun night out.

[goesawol]

[She smiles knowingly, very much aware that she’s giving away very little.] That sounds alright. The best talks I’ve had were over tea, not alcohol.

[Though that in itself gives her a bit more intel. She stops, looks at the map, and then points at a house far away.] Is that it?

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

[Jecht checks his own map, then looks over the curve of the path to correlate it.]

Yeah, looks like! Unless there's a secret smaller house we can't see or somethin'.

[goesawol]

Doesn't look like it.

[Cybernetic eye has her scanning the surroundings. No signs of a trap. Yet.]

It looks very cozy.

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

Oh man, look at that river!

[Jecht's picking up the pace, not even thinking about the possibility of a trap. You coming, Ana?]