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No title.
(2012-10-01 - 2012-10-02)
No description.
Mercade Alexander It's time to talk business.

The best place to do that is over a big ass New York pizza, which is what they're doing sitting around to one side in one of Mercade's favorite pizza joints. Soda and other drinks are available as well, and Mercade drinks down a cola. "So what brings you to Manhattan, Avira?" Mercade asks. "It's been really jumping around here lately."
Avira Something seemed a little off about this whole picture. It's hard to place until Avira actually starts eating. Maybe she was just watching the other patrons of this place but she seems to have no trouble at all eating pizza.

"Trying to figure out the lay of the land, so to speak." Avira admits, "Things have been a bit mixed around My colleagues back at the clan want me to map as much as possible but I've never really made a map before, so I'm just doing what I can." Looking up from her drink, which is actually just water, Avira squints at Mercade. "...I have a question for you. Noticed your card...do you really work for Xanatos?"
Mercade Alexander Mercade isn't sure what Avira's Deal is. Everyone has a Deal, it's their whole thing, their theme, what they do. Mercade hasn't figured it out yet. But at least she's fine with pizza. She in fact seems to enjoy it a lot. Mercade leans back and nods. "I know the feeling." Mercade says. "Ever since the Heartless ate the rest of the world, we've been working to figure out what is going on and how to fix it. I've been mapping the paths as well. It's not going too bad so far."

He pauses at the mention of Xanatos. "Yeah, he offered to fund and equip the TDA. It's been a lot more effective than working out of my old apartment. IS there something I should be worried about?"
Avira In Avira's defense, she's also pretty darn hungry. Covering all this ground works up quite an appetite-but Mercade should feel some solace that despite this, she does not eat like a barbarian and completely embarass him in front of the good people of Manhattan. "Maybe we should compare notes on that, then, it'll save a lot of time."

Watching Mercade's reaction carefully to the mention of Xanatos, Avira is quick to shake her head, "No, not at all, I mean it's just...Xanatos. /The/ Xanatos. Richest man in the...uh...part of this world. Pretty impressive to catch his notice."
Mercade Alexander Mercade doesn't care. He lives with a hobo and a Gargoyle. "Sure, I could give you what I have on that. It's a decent amount, but God knows how much is out there."

Mercade rubs his chin. "Well, we /are/ down to just Manhattan. I don't know why he picked me. Maybe he saw what I was doing and decided I was doing something that needed to be done. Either way, he hasn't asked me to do anything I wouldn't be doing myself, so..." He shrugs, and drinks some more cola. "So what's your story, Avira? I've never seen anyone use a weapon like that before, you've got to have a hell of a tale to go with it."
Avira "Can't say I have a decent amount...but not knowing what's out there..." A hand disappears from Mercade's view and Avira starts fumbling around in one of the many pouches at her belt. A few battered pieces of parchment are taken out, all with some extremely crudely drawn maps on them. They don't seem very organized.

"Just Manhattan, huh.." Avira says quietly, a distant look briefly flickering in her eyes, "Interesting." She doesn't really consider that Xanatos could practically rule this little piece of the world now with this influence. "Oh, that, uh...well it's one of a kind. I had it custom made out of the one thing I was able to grab before my..uh, village was destroyed. The details are kind of gruesome but...well, it's important to me. It's my one piece of a world that doesn't exist anymore."

Despite the gravity of the situation, she smirks, "So now I use it to beat the hell out of anything that threatens to send me back into the darkness."
Mercade Alexander Mercade, despite the morbid subject, chuckles at that. "That's fair enough. We've proving that they can be hurt, and if they can be heart and beaten, maybe we can win if we find a way to stop them."

He reaches over and looks over the pages, pondering the scratchings. "Hrm." He says, and pulls out a notepad, drawing on his own. His scribblings are fairly general, but they do at least give a general idea of what connects where. He pulls out a handheld device and refers to it extensively. She can see the Xanatos Industries logo on the back of the object. "Let's see if I can give you some more information here..."
Avira Inwardly, Avira breathes a sigh of relief. Sounded convincing enough, not that it wasn't tempting to confide the truth. At the same time, she'd intended to leave it all behind.

Avira tries her best to smooth out the pages and manages to do a half-decent job at that before sliding the pile into Mercade's outstretched hands. "I sure as hell hope there's a way to stop them! I really don't want to see more worlds getting broken apart." Though she hasn't seen a whole one yet. "I-oh."

Avira squints at Mercade's little Xanatos-branded toy, "I see he gives you some nice things to play with too. How exactly did he end up approaching you, out of curiosity? No offense or anything but it sort of sounds like you were kind of obscure."
Mercade Alexander "I went searching for a missing person." He says, still writing. "I tracked them down to one of the bad parts of town. I kicked in the door just in time to see him get eaten by Heartless, though I didn't know that's what they were at the time." He pauses, shuddering for a moment. "I couldn't hurt it then. It wasn't until... I made a decision, that I was able to beat it." He laughs. "It's weird, isn't it? It's like what we hit it doesn't really matter in the end."

He gets back to scribbling. "Anyway, I ended up having to dive out the sixth floor window in order to not get eaten myself. There were like a hundred in there. After I got out of the hospital, there was a letter from Xanatos Industries offering me a better position than my half-assed little apartment-office."
Avira Avira feels her stomach turn and if Mercade looks up at the right time, she'll see this revulsion reflected on her face. It's all towards the being 'eaten by a Heartless' part of course. "It's...funny how you say that, now that I think about it, I don't think I was able to hurt them at first. It's hard to remember that moment but..." before she continues, she presses him with another question. "What do you mean, made a decision?"

He finishes his little story and Avira can't help but wince. "Your lucky to survive that kind of fall. But that's...wow, he knew and all. So he's gonna find out about that Central Park incident too, then. Not...sure how I really feel about that! I mean, yeah, I do want to be famous but I was hopin' that would happen in Ivalice."

Meanwhile, as Mercade is scribbling on the maps, Avira has taken to decimating the rest of the pizza.
Mercade Alexander "I almost didn't. I hit speed dial for 911 on my way down and hit an awning before crashing into the top of a car." He winces. "It kind of hurt. A lot. And as far as the central Park incident... He was already there at the park when a bunch of people started dropping in. That's what this is." He holds up the device. "It's a mapper and portal detector. Without it, I wouldn't be able to find the portals between most worlds, except maybe for the really obvious ones. I don't have any magic or anything, so we have to use technology to compensate. And if he gave me this, he's got to have something better himself. He's probably tracking any Heartless incursion out there. "

He finishes scribbling, and pushes his notes over to Avira. "That should help you out." It's a general copy of the map information the device holds, detailing worlds and general connections between them that he's found so far.

He pauses, then, leaning back. "As far as the decision... Well, I was afraid. Really afraid. I couldn't think straight. My guns weren't doing anything. But then I decided... I needed to live, and I needed to fight. To make sure this didn't happen to anyone else. I wanted to protect these people, and I was failing it. If I died there, I wouldn't be able to protect anyone... And after I decided I was going to fight there, for everyone, suddenly my bullets started working on them." Mercade frowns. "It's like what matters is what you're thinking and feeling, more than what kind of weapon you're using."
Avira Avira cringes, "Still, that's the kind of fall that...you know..kills people. You're a lucky man, Mercade. ...you don't mind if I call you that, right? We don't really do last names where I'm from." Now she's leaning across the table to get a better look at the doohicky that's been given to him. After he explains the functions, Avira lets out a low whistle. "Lucky. I kind of just...wander around until I find them. Pretty much why I haven't made much progress but I'm pretty good at remembering their location."

Avira gathers up the amended maps and sifts through them, viewing each addition in turn an doccasionally nodding.

Then she peers over the edges of the parchments when Mercade speaks. "...that almost sounds like what went through my head..." Avira says softly, "...it would explain why my ridiculous choice of a weapon was actually working before I was swallowed by the darkness. I wanted to live. I wanted to survive so badly."
Mercade Alexander Mercade laughs. "It's fine. You can call me Mercade. No need for formalities." He grins for a moment, and then he nods. "You're right. I wonder if that's part of the key to what we're dealing with. Not everyone seems to be able to marshal that kind of willpower, though, and I really don't want to test this out. It's the kind of thing that can get people killed." He sighs. "Life's gotten complicated since then... But certainly never dull. Never, ever dull."
Avira "Good, good, you can call me Avira of course...no fancy titles. Yet." She beams and much more carefully puts her parchments away after arranging them into some seblance of order. Her gaze darkens a little and she looks distant again, "No, let's...let's not. I think we've lost enough people. Though..ahaehehe.."

Nervous laughter, "I bet this sounds kind of horrible but I'm not missing the dullness." She only gives a few seconds for that to sink in before she quickly adds, "Anyway if you ever need help, especially in Rabanastre, look me up. Especially if you want someone to...test trive one of those fancy devices you have there."
Mercade Alexander Mercade shrugs again. "Rabanastre, eh? All right, I will keep that in mind." He chuckles. "So, what's it like over there? You mentioned you had some kind of clan? How does that work? Something like a mercenary company, or is it more of the usual blood-ties thing?"
Avira "Yes, it's riiiight-" Out come the papers again so Avira can point out where exactly Ivalice falls in all this new mess. To the woman's credit, she at least got New Ivalice and it's surrounding area down right. "Well, occupation by the very unfriendly Archadians aside, I think it's a very lovely city. As for the clans, yes, it falls towards more of a mercenary company though the business we do is geared towards hunting marks. That is, monsters and such, occasionally criminals. With the Heartless, business has been booming."
Mercade Alexander "Hah. Sort of like what we do but with more killing. Not bad. Then again, Manhattan wasn't know for having monster problems until recently... At least, of the inhuman type." Mercade grins at that, and looks over the map intently. "All right. Maybe I'll stop by sometime. Sounds like a happening place. I need to be by there anyway, since Xanatos is going to want maps of the area regardless in his scanner device."
Avira "Weeeelll, in a way, yes. We don't do much looking for missing people, though. Missing objects, maybe." consider that foreshadowing on the part of searching for those recipe pieces, maybe. "If Xanatos is looking to branch out..." she laughs, clearly joking, but there is a shred of seriousness there. The man was known for company acquisition. "Anyway, if you drop by, I'll give you a tour or something."

She returns the grin and reclaims her map.
Mercade Alexander Mercade nods. "I'll look forward to it!" He rubs his chin. "I'll let him know in my report. Maybe he'll be willing to contract you guys for something local."

He looks up, and then stands. "Anyway, we should get going before the place closes. Go ahead and take what's left of the pizza with you if you wan..." He blinks, looking down at the empty spot where there was once a pizza. "Wow, nice. Want one to go?"
Avira "That would be /fantastic." There's a hint of excitement in Avira's voice at that. Anything to put the clan on the map, right? They'd be the first to take extra-dimensional jobs for sure. She stands and smiles mischeviously as he calls attention down to the lack of pizza.

"What pizza?" she says innocently before sliding her way out from that booth. "Hehe, thanks for the treat."

 
This scene contained 20 poses. The players who were present were: Mercade Alexander, Avira