When We're Rollin Through the Wild Wild West

[geonomy]

Who: Everyone! EVERYONE!
Broadcast: IF YOU WANNA
Action: Everywhere! EVERYWHERE!
When: Mid-September - Mid-October

[How's your ship doing, pardners? Is it still pretty damaged? Is it glitching out hardcore? Well, there is one place to land to take care of all that, and that's on a dusty old moon in front of a planet that no one wants to go to. On this moon, you'll find a civilization that looks a lot like one's stepped into a wild west movie, hardened cowpolk and mutant horses and all. Will you become a vigilante, hunting bounties and stopping gangs from doing their dirty work? Will you go exploring planetside, with a cowboy hat and a stalk of wheat in your mouth to complete the look? Good luck with that; there is no wheat. This town ain't big enough for all you flooters, but make it so! For the ratings!

In other words, it's a planet mingle! Get 'er done!]

[September Planet info here]

Comments

[curiositykilledthecats]

I have been free from the start. I could not become Sultansworn even if I desired, as I am not a citizen of Ul'dah.

What of yourself?

[redactions]

I swore allegiance to my country.

[ He served and died for it, like many others, but it doesn't feel like he was ever really loyal to it, just the people he fought beside. ]

It's changed from what it was.

[curiositykilledthecats]

... To but one country?

How so?

[redactions]

[ He gives it some thought as they push the cart up the side of a dune. ]

Countries are founded on principles. Truth, justice, the freedom to be who you are. It's not always the living example of that, but people try. It's worth trying for.

[curiositykilledthecats]

But it has changed, you said.

[She seems quite used to walking on sand, regardless. She somehow finds steady footing wherever she steps, keeping the cart moving.]

[redactions]

Yeah. I was — away, for a while. When I came back, it seemed like people didn't quite care about each other as much as they used to.

[curiositykilledthecats]

Is it truly changed, or was it but the memories in your heart which made it seem that way?

[It's true, what they say. You can't go home again. Miah's more familiar with this than most.]

[redactions]

[ It's such a sincere question, without any pretension or expectation, that he offers her an honest answer, ]

Maybe it's both. I'm beginning to wonder what I really remember.

[curiositykilledthecats]

... There is no shame to wonder. Time is a honey to sweeten memories, that you forget the bitterness of eld. I have experienced it many times.

[redactions]

Have you?

[ It serves a twofold purpose: an affirmation of a shared experience, and an implication she can tell him, if she feels comfortable. If she thinks it would help him. ]

[curiositykilledthecats]

[It's not that she minds sharing about the Echo, exactly. But she's not sure telling this guy that she might be able to see his past randomly would be the help he's looking for.]

I have. That old friends may suddenly be foes, as you have forgotten the ills between you. Or to return to the forest of my childhood, and find it much smaller than I believed.

sorry about the delay!

[redactions]

[ Each time sounds the same. Time heals, so they say. ]

Same old story, huh.

[ It's a common story: to lose one's world, but when presented with it across universes it seems somehow... bigger. More terrible. Weighing them both; or maybe only him. She seems to walk with her back straight. ]

Each time you chose to stay on your path?

no worries! i am excited for this thread anyway

[curiositykilledthecats]

[That gives her pause. She has to consider for a moment- Honesty is all well and good, but how much does she want to reveal? She's put a lot into hiding who she used to be, after all, because that wasn't what her realm needed.

On the other hand, this isn't her realm. And there's the matter of what this one person in front of her needs...]

... "Shrink not from employing thy strength in service to the forest, and the wider realm beyond. Like hungering shadows do the enemies of harmony gather, and meekness will but feed them."

[Her eyes half-closed as she recites the words, as if the words carry greater weight than anything else.]

[redactions]

[ He pauses to listen. There's enormity to the words, like any oath. It's not his, but it sinks in anyway. ]

[ In the end it's still a devotion to principle, and Jim's never quite been made that way. Principles are a better rock than a person. Yet, he'll always fight for people. ]

It's noble, [ he says, after a moment. ] no matter what it costs.

[curiositykilledthecats]

... It is strange.

[Miah's tail flicks around agitatedly, as she's not sure what to say. She was never good at talking to people, and leading her company has been useful in teaching her, when it comes to matters like this, she is never sure how much she should say.]

These noble words came from a Primal, an enemy of all life, to give purpose to a coward. Yet without them, perhaps all would have been lost. I would never have sought my own path, nor left the shadows of my companions.

Did it truly cost anything? With those words as my guide, I have obtained power beyond what I ever dreamed of, and have become the shield to protect Eorzea from all that would cause it harm. All it cost was safety I ill deserved.

If it is 'cost' we speak of, I fear that it is the other path that bears far steeper a price.

[redactions]

There's a cost too, if it's all you become.

[ All that matters. Everything that makes sense. But he's fighting a losing battle, because he knows in his heart: she's right. The higher price is one they always pay, because the alternative is worse. ]

Smaller one. Still...