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Who: Crystal Exarch, Open
What: Catboy vs. Weather
Where: Near/inside the Heavenly Blanc
When: When the weather starts playing up.
Content Warnings: Not applicable!

Part 1

For a hundred years now, the Exarch has hidden his full appearance beneath robe and cowl. Learned to keep his tail as still as he could even when it compromised his balance, kept his long ears flattened beneath the weighted hood no matter how it pained him, and used various magicks to keep his hood up and eyes hidden in shadow. It was a long time to keep himself hidden away, erasing the man he once was so that none could bear an attachment to him (in theory - in practice, he knew well that the people of the Crystarium cared for him dearly, Lyna - who saw him as her treasured grandfather - most especially).

Oh, he suspected that many people at least knew his race. He had heard whispers of people glimpsing his tail, after all, of a kind only possessed by the mystel. However, he had enough respect from his people that none thought to question him on it, and that was enough.

He had wanted to keep up that secret here, in this strange land, not knowing how things might proceed. However, without magic to help him, he has found a new and unexpected enemy: the wind.

The sudden strong gales when there had been no wind before catch him completely unawares, strong enough to near blow him off his feet. The winds sweep back his cowl and set his robes flying around his waist, and there isn't a damned thing he can do about it.

Clearly, he must find shelter, and quickly, before the wind proves powerful enough to send him flying. The nearest, the place he had been travelling to, is the Heavenly Blanc - a place he might meet with and talk with others - and so he dashes to the door and tries to pry it open, only for the wind to hold it shut.

Not one to be defeated, he holds fast to the handles, waiting for the second the wind dies down so that he might get himself to safety and cover himself once more.

Part 2

A hundred years of secrecy, undone by the weather.... Well... no matter, for those here are from lands so far removed from his own, surely it will be fine. Right?

With the wind having grown calmer, the Exarch has gone to find higher ground within that purple-wooded area, overlooking the lake and feeling the wind on his face. And, for once, through his hair.

It's a quiet calm disturbed only by approaching footsteps, one now-free ear flicking back to listen before he turns to face the arrival.

"It's quite pleasant, isn't it? After the air was so still before..."

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There was only one problem with clinging to those door handles, and seeking shelter in one of the only inhabitable structures- it was the most likely to have.. you know... people in it. When the doors were finally able to be budged, there stood Seto Kaiba, with a cup of coffee in hand that he was drinking more out of habit then from any direct need. The hood hadn't been drawn back up, and the wind wasn't doing the other any favors as it gusted again while Kaiba was still blocking the entrance.

Personally, he didn't mind the wind as it made his jacket flare out in the dramatic fashion it was always intended to. One look at the other man however...

He did recognize the coat but the ears and tail he didn't recall seeing previously. After taking another sip of his coffee, he smirked and replied smugly,"This isn't improving my impression of you..."

Frowning up at the frustratingly tall boy blocking his path, the Exarch quickly puts his hood back in place, very much unsettled by having his face exposed - after so long being hidden beneath the cowl, he feels almost naked without it.

The teenaged know-all has some comment to make and a smirk upon his face. Quite what he is feeling so smug about, the Exarch couldn’t say - it is hardly his fault the wind picked up as it had, and he is sure that anyone would struggle walking through those gales.

"I do so hate to disappoint, but I fear controlling the wind is beyond me. Now if you would be so kind, do let me pass."

Edited 2020-07-28 08:07 (UTC)

There was little point in fixing the hood now as the damage had already been done. Seto had already seen the pink hair and the feline qualities. A rather peculiar choice for a presumably old man. That story had started to bother him ever since they had parted ways the first time. If this guy was as technologically inept as he implied, then how could he have even navigated the character parameters menu? It had him wondering if the whole story was a lie, which honestly wouldn't surprise him.

Still looking far too amused, he raised his coffee cup and his free hand into the air to shrug, then he turned to the side to let the other in. He did not exit however as originally intended.

"You do know, that for someone like me tracing your data back to discover your real identity won't be hard, right?" Clearly angling for some sort of confession.

Red hair, thank you Kaiba, no matter how faded out present lighting might make it.

The Exarch's face is one of puzzled irritation as he makes his way past Kaiba into the unexpected darkness of the Heavenly Blanc. Is that supposed to be... a threat? If so, it is a very poor one - much as he hides his face, he is quite certain that details of his identity are not going to be found in some otherworldly Allagan-esque database.

"You are quite welcome to try. I should like to know what you find, so do please let me know."

Close enough. ~~Plus pink is more insulting, so he'll stick with it~~. That's just the pleasant sort of human being that he is.

It most assuredly was a threat, and one Kaiba planned to make good on the moment he had the chance. Little did he know how impossible it would have been in reality. Having started from a false premise, it ultimately led to a false conclusion.

"I just bet you would." Sounding every bit as snarky as before. "You could just save us both the trouble and fess up now." If clarity was needed he certainly provided it. "What age are you really? Do your parents know what sort of weird things you get into online?"

His parents? Not only is he sure he doesn't look that young - he was in his mid-20s when he stopped ageing, so despite the fact he is 'blessed' with a youthful face he surely does not look like a child - G'raha was sure they had already established he was at least old enough to be this boy's grandsire. That was not something likely to have changed in the last however-long-it-was.

"Online...?" he repeats. The word is not unfamiliar, but the usage certainly is. "You truly are convinced I am not the man you see before you... all I have told you is truth. I am not play-acting, boy, and you would do well to listen."

That was the problem with digital avatars, a person could hide behind whatever appearance they settled on. Things like age and gender were irrelevant. Yes, they had tread this ground before, and Kaiba had heard the guy's claims about being a grandfather, etc but there was no guarantee that he was telling the truth ~~contrary to the assertions to that point~~.

"Still playing dumb?" He snorted as he walked over to place his cup down on the bar. "Right, because I run into furries on a regular basis." Accompanied with an eyeroll.

'Furries', now? Again with the unfamiliar usage of familiar words, though the Exarch thinks he can guess from the context that he is referring to miqo'te and their furry ears and tails. The idea that this stranger genuinely does not know of his kind does not occur to him, as even if the miqo'te of his world are less widespread, he seems educated enough to at least know of the world's many races - he had personally never met viera until he was in his twenties, but he knew they existed.

"My kind is known as mystel where I come from," he says, opting for the Norvrandt name for miqo'te rather than using his native Eorzean. "I've known other names for us, but 'furry' has quite a derogatory feel to it - I suspect that is not the name you truly know us by."

Like calling the bangaa lizards, or moogles mole-bats. 'Furries' indeed... rude.

"If you keep insisting I must be 'playing', then I might consider inventing a more creative role for myself."

Had Kaiba bothered to explain any of the terminology he'd been using it might have helped to dispel some of the confusion, but he didn't. The words were fairly common from his place of origin so as clueless as he thought this person to be they should at least know as much. Somewhat ironically a similar misconception was happening in the reverse regarding this other species. The only thing Kaiba knew about humanoids with animal-derived appendages came from mythology and works of fiction. Even many of his beloved Duel Monsters cards were images of such creatures.

"Sure it is." Referring to the mystel term. When was this guy going to drop the ruse? "Oh- there certainly are other names for your kind... but even I don't want to repeat them." Still sounding amused with himself as he implied there were worse things to be called. Though he had meant furry in a derogatory fashion, as his current companion surmised. "If that bothers you I suggest developing thicker skin."

"Save it for your other roleplaying geeks- if you don't think it's too much of a strain on your mental capacities." No, he wasn't always going to harp on this idea, but he was definitely going to now after what had just been revealed.

And 'geek' is a term the Exarch has never heard. Roleplaying could be taken to mean a number of things, from acting on stage to deception and trickery, but as Kaiba uses it he imagines it more akin to play-acting as children do. For... entertainment, perhaps? He supposes it would be an amusing exercise in creativity, if nothing else.

"I must continue to disappoint, then. I am not play-acting, and I feel no true desire to do so when the only purpose would be satisfying your need to be correct."

Edited 2020-08-05 20:59 (UTC)

Over time Kaiba would likely introduce him to more insults, that were foreign to him. So there was something to look forward to. For the purposes of this conversation the assumption was accurate enough, although some older individuals could also engage in the activity later in life. For someone whose job often entailed weaving stories, and setting up fantasy settings... Kaiba didn't have much room to talk. He just did it anyway. The video games were a part of the business, he didn't delude himself into actually pretending to be something he was not.

To that last part he nearly chuckled, but caught himself. His need to be correct... really? "Fine. Just know that I'm not going to believe any of the nonsense that spills from your lips." That seemed settled to him.

The Exarch, on the other hand, does not hide his own small chuckle. Some people, really... especially these young ones, so convinced that they know better than those more experienced. Maybe he was like that once, too, when he was still a mere scholar.

"Very well. 'tis not to my detriment, after all. Just know that I'll not be held accountable should your ignorance later cause you problems."

It was not an uncommon occurrence for a teenager to think he knew better than his elders, and it likely didn't help that Kaiba's experiences tended to support his claims. Hadn't he been the one to outsmart his adopted father years prior as he arranged to have the company's stock bought out? Then hadn't he also managed to oust the five corporate fossils that then tried to turn on him for their own gains? Seto was actually quite intelligent despite his youth, if only he would work on that whole- listening to others thing.

To him Exarch remained an enigma- ~~and a nameless one at that~~. Although Kaiba had his suspicions he currently had no way of confirming them.

"Heh, like I would. I take full responsibility for my actions." Except, you know- when he didn't. Had he lifted a finger to help Yugi's grandfather with the man collapsed after their duel? Did he bother to warn or apologize to the contestants in his own tournament when he arbitrarily decided to blow up one of the venues that had been used for the event without giving prior warning? N o p e. At least he hadn't cast blame on anyone else? So there was that.

"Forgive my saying so, but I shall believe that only when I see it."

He really ought to keep such judgements to himself, but from what he can tell this boy is woefully stubborn. If he cannot accept what is in front of him, then how can anyone expect him to take responsibility for anything? It seems to the Exarch he would be more inclined to think he is responsible for something else entirely.

The poor, deluded boy...

"Still, if you would be so kind as to indulge me for a moment, I should like to know what your assumptions have been thus far. Do speak plainly, for many of your terms are foreign to me."

Hey, if someone is going to create an imaginary 'other version' of him that is merely play-acting the role of 'tired old half-crystal man', he'd like to know more about that character!

This is definitely the worst kind of weather to be wearing hooded robes in, yes. Even if Merlin generally hasn't bothered wearing his hood up, it still catches in the wind along well, well, virtually everything else he's wearing, making each step something of a battle to get anywhere.

"Is it locked?" Merlin calls out over the wind as he approaches, using his staff to help make his way forward. If he sees anything odd about the other fellow's appearance, however, there's certainly no sign of it... and for that matter, the way the wind whips his own hair about is allowing the sharp-eyed a clearer than usual glimpse of the pointed tips of his own ears.

Though the point to the approaching stranger’s ears is seen and noted, the Exarch does not consider that a feature worth noting at this point. He does wonder if the young man might be a rare mixed race individual - hyur and elezen, by the looks of him - but while it hasn’t escaped him that the majority here are hyur, he doesn’t think seeing the other races is that strange a sight.

“No, ‘tis only the wind holding it fast,” he assures the stranger.

Merlin is indeed of mixed blood, although of a slightly different combination.

"So I see..."

He'll give it a tug anyway, while his flowing robes disguise it he's actually fairly strong. Though whether that's enough is a whole other question...

Only if the wind lets up, it would seem. The Exarch steps to one side to give the stranger a chance to try it for himself, and makes an effort to cover his head once more with the cowl - a near futile effort, to his ever growing frustration.

"Grateful as I am that the air is no longer still, I would much prefer if the winds were not quite so powerful..." he complains. "I fear 'tis enough to lift a man off his feet."

"It's a bit inconvenient, isn't it?"

Says the guy wearing flowing robes with huge sleeves and a hood, and whose long hair practically reaches the ground. He probably looks utterly ridiculous with all that being whipped around him in the wind, when it comes down to it.

"And naturally it's blowing in just the wrong direction..." he mutters as he gives the door another good tug on principle.

At least the Exarch can relate to that, to some extent - he might not have the stranger’s long hair, but his robes definitely do not agree with the wind.

“Naturally,” he says, with a frustrated sigh. “I am sure it will die down just enough in a moment... or at least, I hope it does.”

"It had better..."

He lets go of the door handle for now, instead glancing around the rest of the outside of the building. Did it have any windows large enough to enter through on the lee side of the wind? Was he desperate enough to try climbing in through a window?

Lucky for Exarch, the bar has been soaking in darkness for the past few... Hours? Days? Who knows? His identity won't be revealed inside.

Ren had been alone in there for a while now, scribbling on books as to make his own crossword puzzle... It's not very thought-provoking as having an actual book to do that on, but it's the closest he gets. The wind itself has stopped being such an inconvenience to Ren - he does adapt quickly, after all. When the door bangs, he looks at it with a frown.

He was about to stand up and tend to it when Exarch managed to come in.

"Are you ok?"

Edited 2020-07-28 10:59 (UTC)

It wasn't so dark in the Heavenly Blanc before, the Exarch is sure, but he is grateful to finally have escaped the wind and pushes the door to before seeking out the source of the voice. To his surprise and annoyance, another gust of wind - inside! - blasts across his legs and lifts the hem of his robe, forcing him to hold it down.

"I am quite well, thank you!" he says, though he sounds both a little breathless and frustrated. "I simply hadn't expected the wind to pick up like that..."

Now, what about this darkness, he wonders? Wait until his eyes adjust to it?

"I'm not sure that I'd call it pleasant or unpleasant. It isn't finished. How would you feel, to be witness to the creation of the world?" A frown, coming from the pointed eared girl who had come a little ways into the forest from her bridge, getting a good look at the lake. Nope, absolutely no reaction to the ears there. Nekomimi were a thing for her. Utterly normal.

"I suppose I could ask myself the same. Since it feels like this place is trying to create itself. And it just remembered you might want air."

With miqo'te (or mystel, as they are known in Norvrandt) being so commonplace, her lack of reaction does not register as strange. This newcomer does not know him as the Exarch, after all, and would not feel the same surprise seeing him without his hood as others might, having grown up believing him to be a hume.

"You don't find a simple pleasure in the wind on your face?" the Exarch asks, glancing back to the unfamiliar elezen girl - woman? - with a soft smile of greeting before turning back to the view. "The creation of the world... an interesting conclusion you have drawn from these strange circumstances. I feel there might be some considerable truth in it."

"I wasn't around for the creation of mine. I'm not that old, but I've been around long enough to notice that really basic things keep showing up. Like air popping pressure in my ears." A grunt. That had been less than pleasant. She frowned. "And I guess there's a certain pleasure in being above ground, but it's really bright and I know I don't really belong in it, so I'm trying not to get too used to the experience. Only adds to the disappointment when reality comes crashing down."

Pause.

"Sometimes literally around here."

“You live underground?” the Exarch asks, and he looks up to the sky. Well... what qualifies as ‘sky’, but in truth is simply white emptiness that is even more unnerving than the oppressive light of Norvrandt’s skies.

“...the land I have come from was one plagued with Eternal Light, so I fear the brightness is overfamiliar to me. Darkness was seen by many as a sanctuary.”

"Lucky you. A lot of us haven't really seen the light of day in a century. But I guess the old saying will always be true. One man's trash is another's treasure. It's what keeps me in business." There was definitely such a thing as 'too much light' and she knew it.

"all of the spirits, or almost all of them anyway, went below ground and away from humans. When they stopped believing, it became hazardous for everyone for us to mingle."

Wuxian had suffered similar winds before. While he wears no cape or hood, his long robes proved to be borderline dangerous, the wind threatening to sweep his feet out from under him - but he made it to the Heavenly Blanc, where he's settled in with a drink, as he's wont to do. While he doesn't rush to open the door for anyone trying to get in - he did that himself, before; other people can do it themselves, now! - he does throw a glance at the door when it opens.

At which point his face lights up like the sun. He points at the new arrival, a wide smile on his face. "Ears!"

What an astute observation! But, lo and behold, it doesn't stop there, because there is a tail as well. Knocking back his drink so he can put the glass aside, Wuxian hops off his seat and walks up to the little -...

"A cat! You're a cat, but also a person. A cat person!"

The crystal parts, he's less sure about, but hey, 'cat person' is pretty impressive already.

The enthusiasm in the greeting initially catches the Exarch so completely off-guard that he simply stares wide-eyed at the stranger for a long moment, ears laying flat back against his head. Ordinarily, he might point out that it was really rather rude to compare miqo’te to cats, as he might correct a child, but a grown man should already know that.

“You... have never seen mystel?” he asks, using the Norvrandt term for his race rather than his native Eorzean. “We are not an uncommon people.”

"Clearly you're not common, either!" Since Wuxian's standards of what's common or not should apply to everything. (Okay, he doesn't really think so - but at the same time, there's no reason why Kitty's standards should apply, either.)

"I've seen cats and I've seen people, but I've never seen cat people before." Most people from his world would be at least a little grossed out at this perceived perversion of nature, but Wuxian is more lax about those things, and after all the crazy creatures and amalgams he's seen here? This is almost a relief!

"How does your tail feel to you? Is it like another arm?" Without waiting for an answer, he bends down to make a grab for it - as if feeling the tail would answer his questions. Do feel free to stop him, his excitement is getting the better of him.

“We aren’t cats, nor are we related to cats...” the Exarch tries to point out, right as the stranger reaches for his tail and he instinctively swishes it out of reach. None of that, thank you! As if to protect it, he holds his robe down against the wind, trying to hide his tail beneath it once more.

“It feels like a tail - hardly anything remarkable. Now do calm yourself!”

Wuxian pouts, but gives up his unwanted tail-petting advances all the same.

"Even if you say that, how am I supposed to know what a tail feels like? It's not like I have one, myself."

Which is fine by him, really. Actually -... He tries to look under that robe, though he does keep his hands at a safe distance.

"Doesn't it get in the way of your clothing?"

Edited 2020-08-05 11:02 (UTC)

Really, now? Is looking up people's robes somehow acceptable behaviour where this man comes from? The Exarch suspects not, and this man just happens to be that childishly inappropriate.

"Most tailors do account for mystel and drahn tails," he explains, again trying to draw away from the man in the hopes that he will get the hint and behave himself. "Given the population. 'tis not a difficult thing to find clothing made to fit them."

He just prefers to hide his tail, personally speaking, hence why his is kept restrained under the heavy robe.

Hey, at least he's not lifting any robes! So it's fine. Probably. It could be worse... Which is why Wuxian gives Kitty a look for backing away - so childish! - though he doesn't pursue.

"Just how many tail-bearing people are there, where you're from?"

"Full many. The Crystarium welcomes those of all races," the Exarch explains, and there is a slight hint of pride in his voice. Even those called 'beastmen' in the Source, often feared and turned away from cities, were welcome in the sanctuary he had founded so long ago. "Humes and elves are perhaps most common, but on the whole the population is quite evenly distributed."

That pride is definitely audible, and also telling: after all, if the world was that accepting everywhere, surely there'd be no need for such pride? That it exists at all is more than a hint of very different situations elsewhere.

Still, Wuxian sees no reason to focus on the negatives. For that matter: it's a worthy thing to be proud of!

"Ah... How to say it?" Pensive, he draws a breath through his teeth before making an attempt, regardless of his troubles, or lack thereof. "I've never thought the place I'm from was lacking in any way, but I'll be the first to admit that the variety of people here is interesting."

"On that, I must agree. I don't believe I have met a single person familiar with the world as I know it, and full many use terms entirely foreign to my ears... I confess, 'tis unsettling."

To say the least. There is at least one young man, whose name he still doesn't know, who is convinced he is a 'furry', and a 'geek' involved in 'LARP', which has left the Exarch completely lost.

"Still, I should like to know more of such worlds, from those willing to speak of them."

There seem to be a lot of accusations of 'cosplay' going around, as well. Who even understands these people...

"Then, what do you want to know?" Technically Wuxian may not even count as being from 'such' worlds, but he's got a plan here: "Buy me a drink, and I'll tell you everything there is to know about my world!"

... There's not even actual 'buying' involved, and he still insists on doing this kind of thing, just as a sport. But then, why wouldn't he? Few things are better than talking over drinks.

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Part 1

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more 1 because someone's gotta do it

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