| Aerith |
Aerith burst into the bar, eyes wide and body brimming with newfound energy and excitement. She nearly skipped toward the bar, her grin a bright, wonderous thing. "Tifa! Tifa, you there?" |
| Kaydin |
With the intensity of Aerith's bright cheerfulness, Kaydin comes in with the same intensity, only dark and seeming gloomy. He doesnt say a word but moves to a table in a shadowy spot where he could watch the goings on without being involved. He pulls his black sword out and begins to look it over carefully, inspecting it. |
| Aerith |
Ah, there he is. She can pick up his aura from where she is, but she'll address that point of contention later. "Get me the usual. Do I have a story to tell you..." She sat at the bar, and after taking a calming drink of her tea, she sighed. "Do you know a girl named Maira?" |
| Aerith |
Aerith grinned. "You have no idea who you've been letting into your bar." She leaned forward. "Tifa... she's a Cetra. I'm not sure if you fully understand what I just said, so let me clarify..." She opened her arms as if the gesture explained everything. "This changes everything. I'm not so... so alone anymore. I get to teach someone what I know, what my mom taught me. This is so, so huge!" |
| Kaydin |
Kaydin inspects the sword completely and thoroughly and would sheath it once more and pulls off his helmet, looking at it with the same inspecting gaze, watching it intently as if it was meant to do something else. He looks to the black armor, clenching a fist as he then puts his helmet back on. |
| Aerith |
Aerith shrugged. "I have no idea, but I'm going to find out. I'm going to help her understand, and help me understand at the same time. What she can do, what she knows how to do and what she doesn't, how the bond with her spirit partner works... she has a friend you can't see, by the way..." She giggled. "This is going to be awesome." |
| Aerith |
"Oh it's different from an imaginary friend. This is a guardian spirit, I think." She glanced over her right shoulder, toward Kaydin. "I think... I've let a certain problem linger for too long. Time to address it," she said under her breath. |
| Kaydin |
Kaydin would then rise as he begins to leave now, chain on the sword rattling slightly as he moves quicker then normal but instead of the door, he looks to the nearby shadow caused by a table. He closes his eyes for a moment as he tries to focus. |
| Aerith |
Aerith shrugged. "No idea. Might need you to be there just in case." She stood, smoothed her dress out, and headed toward Kaydin. "Sit. Please." No demands, no commands, just... please. "You're not leaving until we talk." |
| Kaydin |
"What is there to talk about? I defended you and am regarded as the villian, then my home is treated as if it is the source of all problems." He says as he keeps his eyes closed, the shadows by the table beginning to turn darker. |
| Aerith |
Aerith shook her head. "Your home... right now... it is the source of a lot of problems, but not all of them." She sat. "They brought it on themselves... and you have yet to realize one specific point." She placed a hand on his shoulder... completely unafraid. "You can distance yourself from it." |
| Aerith |
Her face took on a serious cast. "Why are you fighting for them?" An honest question, asked as if she didn't know the answer. |
| Kaydin |
"You warned the judge magister to stay away from baron. Now when we approach them, what do you think will happen when he tells them about you?" He asks calmly before opening his eyes, the shadows becoming normal. "Because of the people of baron that serve and arent evil. Baigan can be brought back. Morrighan isnt evil and doesnt give herself to the darkness. There are more good people in baron then evil." He says as he looks to her. "On one side, I am proud to serve my country but I dont like the fact I have to kill innocent people to do it. On the other side, I cannot let the helpless and the weak be oppressed." |
| Aerith |
"And yet, Baron right now, exists to oppress the weak and helpless. So far, I've seen them do nothing but kill, and destroy, and want to take, when entire worlds suffer." She poses the question again, same tone of voice. "Why do you fight for them?" |
| Kaydin |
"Because abandoning them gurantees both Baron and Myself will fall more into darkness. If I relent and break my word, when will it stop? I have made it this far by not giving in, by continuing to stand up and fight regardless of how outmatched and how I felt." He says calmly. |
| Aerith |
Aerith smiled. Calm, self-assured, understanding. "I know. But remember... if you're complicit with their actions, you're no better than what you fight against. They're using your honor, your nobility, your... your kindness... as a weapon." She shook her head. "I'm going to keep going until you realize what I already know... you can't keep toeing the line forever. If you want to save an entire nation from Darkness... sometimes you have to break the one promise you never thought you would." |
| Aerith |
Aerith leaned forward. "Just like him... that Dark Knight that got banished for questioning, for wondering why all this evil. Why all the damage, the death, the hate? What had gotten into the people he used to love?" |
| Kaydin |
"Cecil abandoned Baron to try and do the right thing and he probably died when the world was consumed. "If I leave they will brand me as a traitor and demand my execution. Facing them in combat would be the same as you facing that girl to the death. Could you do it? Kill her to do the right thing?" He asks calmly. |
| Kaydin |
"Cecil abandoned Baron to try and do the right thing and he probably died when the world was consumed. If I leave they will brand me as a traitor and demand my execution. Facing them in combat would be the same as you facing that girl to the death. Could you do it? Kill her to do the right thing?" He asks calmly. |
| Aerith |
Aerith lowered her eyes for a moment. She knew where this was coming from. Perhaps he was asking himself the same question, perhaps not. She wouldn't respond with another question, that would be a silly game to play. "Would I want to? No. She's young, and doesn't understand what she's doing. If the Darkness took her, I'd have to kill her. It'd be a duty, an obligation. And it'd free her heart and soul." She looked up. "But I know what you're asking. If she turned bad, evil, willingly followed that path?" She looked at the table again. "I'd dissuade her first. Try to make her see reason. I'd bring as many with me as I could who knew what they were doing. But if I couldn't... well she wouldn't give me a choice, now would she?" She looked up again. "Many have said I have a pure heart. I'm starting to believe them. But just because you have a pure heart... doesn't mean you have to be nice about doing the right thing instead of the easy thing." |
| Kaydin |
Kaydin nods. "Alright. I will try harder to dissuade them. Maybe I can go along with the emissaries." He says as he would look to her. "I am sorry to force you to think such thoughts the very evening you found someone like you." He says as he moves to pat her shoulder. "But I am nothing special. You are something very special. Cecil was like that, he always was special. I am just some guy who doesnt know when to back down. Some day I am going to fall into darkness. I have accepted that. In the mean time I intend to make good on these powers before I become a monster." |
| Aerith |
Aerith shook her head. "Just promise me one thing... promise me you'll ask the questions that no one else will. Promise me you'll ask why they're doing this. If it's just for the honor of Baron, then their actions have no honor at all." |
| Kaydin |
"I will ask." Kaydin says as he looks back to the shadow of the table. "I have much to do before I can rest." He says as he watches the shadows before glancing back at Aerith and Tifa. |
| Aerith |
Aerith nodded and stood, heading back toward the bar. "Come on Tifa, let's go to the back. I need to talk more about this girl I met." |