Get to Know Your War Buddies

[voyageurduvent]

Characters: Bartz and Rishfee
Setting/ Time: Day 4 after the log below...afternoon then
Location: Valora cafeteria
Warnings: none, ya?
Briefing: Bartz actually meets this Rishfee person he was talking to on the laptop.

Even though the facts of being in another country, having to fight that country's war, and still having to fight his own world's

Comments

[immortal_lion]

Most likely Bartz would be remarkably surprised at the sight of the Immortal. While Rishfee's voice could be hardened and steeled to sound much older than what he actually was, the fact remained that he was still remarkably young. The youngest of all the Immortals in fact; something reflected in his gentle mannerism and ability to emphasise, something which the others had all lost as they lost more and more of themselves and became more like monsters with every one they had absorbed in service to the Empire.

It was the fact Rishfee was an exceptionally kind individual which had led to this meeting. He felt like he had likely ran through all possible avenues of communication with this person and wanted nothing more than to offer some sort of tribute to the Serpentking Zahak and pray for the Empire he'd left behind at his death, but couldn't bring himself to refuse.

Attired in usual keffiyah, jubbah, shalwar, bazubands and charuq crafted of Imperial silk, he certainly looked foreign in this place. The clothes emitted an aura of a very highly ranked individual (after all, Imperial silk was of quality like no other, let alone the gold adornments which were part and parcel of the uniform.) Yet the clothes had purpose. They were protective wear. Not to him, but for the people around him. Just in case the monster he truly was overtook his resolve. They helped keep the beast he really was inside, and the façade of the human being he once was before becoming an Immortal blue mage dominant.

Back home, Immortals were ticking time bombs - despised by the military and feared by the citizenry. But they were necessity, the only thing which could protect the Divine Empress from monsters were monsters themselves and the Immortals were just that. An elite unit which gave up what it was to be human and gave up their lives to live by the Divine Empresses' grace. None had reached the end of his or her natural lifespan. They had simply grown in power, lost more sanity and... reached their limits and broke; transforming into monsters themselves, being deemed a threat to the Empress and then exterminated by their Immortal comrades.

Spying the boy, Rishfee couldn't say that he had the same problem. The other... wasn't exactly the quickest of people after all, and all it took was a small scan of the area to find someone that by look... matched that little personality trait. Bingo.

Allowing a small inclination of the head at the one which seemed so much taller than him, the Immortal allowed a small, good-natured smile to curl at his lips; of course concealed by his veil, yet eyes showed the smile perfectly well. "Hello, Bartz. Have you been waiting long?" he asked, deciding to forget about the fact that he hadn't worshipped since arrival and now probably wouldn't for a smaller while to come.

[voyageurduvent]

People came and went. Bartz didn't know any of them, though he was sure he soon would if they were all soldiers together. And with all the training schedules and stuff, there'd be plenty of time to get to know those people. But none of them looked like a "Rishfee", even though he'd never heard such a name before. Presently, one person came walking up to him. He looked like a ninja, wearing such a face mask, but the rest of his clothes made him look like he came from the desert. Who says ninjas don't come from the desert?

The man (or boy?) was before him, addressing him. This must be Rishfee, but how could a guy talk like that but look like a kid? Bartz concluded he was just a small guy, though it was still somewhat confusing because usually small guys have higher voices than what he had heard. It didn't occur to him to think about how Rishfee knew this was him.

"Hey Rishfee! No, not too long," he responded. This guy must be a ninja...unless he thinks this weather is cold. "This is a first: talking to someone before actually meeting them. Writing letters doesn't count. I never would have guessed you were a kid!"

r-rofl, not that young. He's 19 but speaks like a 30 year old.

[immortal_lion]

...A..kid? Well, that was certainly new. He'd more than thought himself past that kind of thing, since he'd been accepted into the Immortals. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he merely remained silent for the smallest of moments as he considered how long this person would last in Whitegate without being arrested for obviously being out of his mind.

...Fifteen minutes, maybe. Depended if the guard were busy in Al Zahbi or not. Averting the subject altogether and deciding that it was far more polite to simply ignore it for the time being, the petite blue mage made his way to the centre of the room and took a seat, obviously expecting the other to follow. "Excellent." he responded, before resting his head on a hand. Really, he had no idea what they were supposed to speak of, but he couldn't help but notice the other smelled slightly of chocobo.

...Interesting. Was this simply someone from the middle-lands, which had never heard of the near east, where he came from? The tensions between the Near East and the Middle Lands were certainly there. Raubahn had seen to it that Rishfee was educated enough to have a grasp of geography and history beyond what had merely taken place in Aht Urhgan, so he understood that the opposing sides of the world certainly weren't... eye to eye. It seemed more plausible that this was simply a man of the Middle Lands than chocobos existing in other worlds, and by attire and name, Bartz would have certainly fit into the Middle Land stereotype.

"What country are you from?" he asked, the question slightly abrupt.

oh...oh well, 19 still young!

[voyageurduvent]

Bartz wondered if he'd made a mistake calling Rishfee a kid, after receiving that kind of look. Or maybe he was just one of those kids who likes to think he's older than he is and doesn't like being reminded he's a kid. Well, whatever, he still seemed like a funny person. Not the hilarious type, but the serious type that can be played off of so easily. He noticed Rishfee was thinking of something that was probably funny, but he didn't bother to ask what it was. Maybe he had accepted the "kid" comment after all.

He followed the kid inside and sat opposite him. This was only like the second or third time Bartz had been here, and he was looking around at all the other people and the room in general when he was brought back by a question.

"What country? Hmm...well, if you mean kingdom, I'm not really from a kingdom. I'm from Lix, which is a little village surrounded by mountains. But...we're not from the same world though, right? So you wouldn't know where that is."