The Mad Chronobomber What Bombs At Midnight
I've decided to share my application for Riva Banari, newly-Junctioned SeeD (Rank 1!) and MYSTIC BOMBER. Check it out.
Name: Riva Banari
Race: Hume
Gender: Female
Class: Chronobomber
Zodiac: Pisces
Hometown: Balamb Garden
Faction: Rebellion
Limit Break: Paradox Blast
Quote: There's a lot of dangerous things out there. I help make sure they
don't come here.
Profile: On the surface, Riva appears to be one of many successful SeeD
candidates: Professional, deadly, and even-tempered. However, she is also
friendly and outgoing to others. She has a strong protective instinct,
trying to keep those less powerful or fortunate than herself protected
against those who would abuse them. However, she similarly has a strong
sense of justice, such that those who abuse her good will are rarely given a
chance to do so again. In battle, Riva makes use of her Junctioned Esper,
Palidor, in order to infuse the small handbombs she carries with mystical
energies to augment their effectiveness.
Skills: Speedballer, Blast From The Past, And The Future, Where Does She Get
So Many Bombs?, Esper Lore (20%), Time Bomber, Monster Hunter, Ia Ia Palidor
Ftaghn, Not Dr. Gravity, SeeD Package Flaw: Amnesia, Does It Matter If Your
Parents Are Alive If You Can't Remember Them?
4) It Builds Character
The story of Riva Banari begins on the Veldt. The Veldt is a vast savannah
plain that covers an entire third of the continent of Kerwon, direcly
abutting the Feywood. The Mist-glutted Feywood is the source of countless
monsters and mutants, the lesser of which are often forced out onto the
plains for sustenance. Thus it is that the Veldt is home to creatures of all
types, shapes, and sizes. It is a harsh and dangerous place, though some try
to make a living hunting the beasts that roam there.
Being on the edge of the Veldt, the people of the town of Mobliz were
hardened hunters and trackers, but even they occasionally had difficulty
with the teeming monster life. An occurance where someone does not return
from their hunt was regrettably common enough for people to remember them.
But the hides and meats provided for the people of the town, and it endured.
Riva's childhood was bright and pleasant. Her father was an accomplished
hunter, and never went out onto the Veldt alone. He had to share his
findings, as was tradition, but strength came in numbers. Many of those who
never returned were those who went alone. Riva's mother cared for the home,
helped to tend the wounds of her husband and others who returned wounded
from their dangerous hunts, helped with the tanning and butchering to create
the leather and meat that sustained the town, made them profitable. Riva
herself lived and learned a golden childhood, playing with the other
children. She listened to her parents, who loved her and told her of the
fearsome monsters that lurked outside the village. She knew they existed,
because the hunters brought them home.
One day, the hunters brought back a great beast, easily three times the size
of a man. She walked up to the beast and laid a hand on it, feeling the
cooling fur, looking into the glassy eyes of the creature. Feeling the rough
skin and hard muscle beneath, bereft of life. She stared at it for a long
time, and eventually her father took her home for dinner, gently. It was her
first encounter with death, and something that helped shape her outlook,
even later on.
As she grew into her teenage years, Riva learned the life of a woman on the
Veldt. She learned to care for herself and the others around her. She
learned wortcraft and herbcraft from her mother, the basics of butchering
and tanning. She argued with her parents as she grew, like all children. She
thought she had the world figured out, but they eventually reconciled each
time. It was a normal circle of life.
She began to discover how interesting boys were, which caused her mother and
father no end of concern. She flirted with the boys, trying to see what the
similarly growing teenagers would do to keep her interest. After a few
encounters, however, she learned to restrain herself a bit more, especially
after an incident where a boy who was showing off for her managed to fall
off of a roof. He lived, but she felt responsible. Guilty, even. Every time
she looked at him, she was reminded of the nature of consequences for
actions, and the darker side of influencing others. She stopped being so
coercive after that, which helped her mother and father relax a bit. Still,
it didn't keep that silly boy from continuing to try to win her. Over time,
she started wondering if he might be worthwhile as well. They started seeing
each other more often, talking about the future and various things. He said
he was going to be a great hunter. She laughed.
Everything changed when the great beast came. The skies darkened, a
thunderstorm blowing as if to herald the arrival of destruction. The ground
shook and the creature hulked from the darkness like a mountain with
red-glowing eyes. It was a terrifying Behemoth, one of the most terrible
fiends in the world of Ivalice. Riva cowered in the shadow of a wrecked
home, but she could do nothing besides watch in horror as the hunters rushed
to face it.
They did poorly. With a strike of its claw, many of them were scattered
away. Her father fought the beast, leaping and striking bravely, but they
could not significantly damage th armor-like hide of the creature. Finally,
it roared to the heavens... And they parted, a meteor falling to strike
before it with a cacaphonic roar.
The people of Mobliz ere scattered, many of the hunters slain outright.
Riva's father was on of the lucky ones, and only caught by the edge of the
blast. But nothing stood in its way now, and it could feast with abandon...
Until a second great beast shimmered into existence, a serpent of lightning
that struck and blasted the Behemoth with magical forces. It reeled back,
and a man walked forward, dressed in a uniform. Riva's father, still
conscious, croaked out a word that Riva could hear. "SeeD." The man struck
the behemoth, fighting with magic and blade, and after a titanic battle the
Behemoth fell. The people hailed the man as their savior, but he turned
away, and left the people to the less joyous task of attending to their dead
and wounded, and rebuilding the town.
Amazingly, Riva's parents survived. Her mother was busy for some time,
working to help everyone she could. Her father was wounded and laid up. The
boy who fell off of the house was crushed under the very building he had
been dancing on to impress Riva. She cried. Grief overwhelmed her, as she
felt things she didn't know she was capable of feeling before. It took a
great deal of time for her to cope. However, she couldn't stop where she
was. There was too much to do, and she had to keep moving forward. That was
something her mother and father taught her. Riva herself helped over the
next few weeks... But she also asked the people around them: "What is SeeD?"
She got a lot of different answers. SeeD are mercenaries. SeeD is a cult.
SeeD is full of demon-worshipers. SeeD is the best thing that ever happened
to Mobliz. Some of the hunters in Mobliz were people who left or washed out
of the SeeD training. But what everyone agreed on is the same thing: No one
who fully joins SeeD ever leaves.
Even so, a determination was born in Riva. She wanted to do something about
the beasts that attacked innocent people. She wanted to protect them. She
wanted to gain the ability to make sure something like this never happened
again. Eventually, she made a decision. She would join SeeD.
Her parents did not approve. They argued with her. The fights were fierce,
but eventually they saw her determination when she began working to gain
money on her own to pay for admission. If they would not approve, she would
find a way to do it herself. She finally encountered something she felt
passionate enough to work on her own. When her parents saw that, they
grudgingly decided to help her, giving her enough of their savings to allow
her to make the journey to the nearby Balamb Garden and enroll.
She reached Balamb on her 16th birthday, and enrolled.
Training began immediately, and it was more intense than anything she had
ever felt before.
Her first instructor was a hard bastard who called himself Jean Faraven. Her
made her life hell, and it was hate on first sight. She gritted her teeth as
he yelled in her face for the slightest faults. She yelled as she performed
laps around the Garden when her physical test scores weren't up to par. She
took that rage and channeled it. She wouldn't let this bastard break her.
She would become stronger. Better. Faster. Even as he appeared out of
nowhere, testing her mind with a pop-quiz, she found a goal to achieve.
Something more immediate than the nebulous desire to protect.
She wanted to beat this guy's ass. Of course, he was a full SeeD, and his
skills were undeniable as had been demonstrated repeatedly on the practice
floor. The time where she was unceremoiously dragged from her bed in the
middle of the night and forced to remain in the training grounds didn't
help, either. The jackass had barred the normal 'meeting place', so all she
could do was take her survival knife and carve out a safe place to hide for
the night. She killed a couple small creatures in the process before they
took off her arm. It was no wonder to her why so few people survived the
process, why so many dropped out.
Keeping her anger and the boy she had loved firmly in her mind, she
persisted.
Even as Jean toughened her body, another instructor, Katarine, sharpened her
mind. Katarine taught her of greater things in the world. Of politics,
religions, mathematics and science. Her punishments were just as harsh as
Jean's in her own way, but she had a kindness that helped offset the
unrelenting harshness of the course. Katarine helped show her that there are
greater things in life to aspire to. She did not suffer fools lightly,
however, and Riva found herself on several fairly creative punishment
details as a result. Katarine told her of the Espers, the great mythological
beasts that controlled amazing powers. Riva found out the background of the
lightning serpent that had smitten the Behemoth, and the concepts fascinated
her.
Katarine also helped teach Riva about the past of the Garden, showing her
what they did and why. Many of her questions were answered in that time. She
also encouraged Riva to get involved with others there, to forge bonds. Not
that she needed much encouragement, but Katarine did teach her how to play
Triple Triad, one of the most popular pasttimes around Balamb.
From both of them she learned how to tap the Mist around her to channel it
into elemental effects. She learned how to imbue an manipulate that energy
to achieve things no normal warrior could do. She was gaining power and
ability, and the rush, the thrill of power was tempered by the lessons
taught by Jean and Katarine. She learned self-control. While she was
proficient in close combat like any SeeD, she found that she had a knack for
thrown weapons. Specifically, she liked a certain kind of handbomb designed
for mid-range combat. She practiced with the weapons, learning how to imbue,
prime, arm, and launch the bombs in a single smooth motion. She incorporated
this into an acrobatic fighting style, which became unusual among SeeD in a
land of gunblades and melee fighting. However, her effectiveness was
generally self-evident.
From Jean, she learned discipline. From Katarine, she learned compassion.
But those were not the only people she interacted with. She was part of a
class, and her classmates were all there for many other reasons. Many of
them were orphans, which caused Riva pause. Why were there so many orphans?
But it only joined the multitude of others as she learned about the lives
around her. She laughed. she cried, she shared lunches. The hot dogs were
always in high demand, but she got some, occasionally. She was on good terms
with a lot of people, but she didn't establish any real deep bonds. In a
way, she was still afraid of what happened to the boy. Would she be willing
to risk that again? Grief was a powerful thing.
Finally, she had reached the end of the normal curriculum. She was brought
before Cid Kramer, headmaster of Balamb Garden, and given a choice: She
could end her training now and do some mercenary work for them in a lesser
role in order to pay off the rest of her (fairly large) tuition expenses, or
she could choose to commit completely to SeeD, and learn how to Junction.
The cost, however, was great. She would forget a great deal of her past
before entering SeeD, as a cost of forging the link with the Esper. Now she
understood why no one who became a SeeD ever came back. Why there were so
many orphans. It was easier for someone who had an unpleasant life to let go
of it.
But there are things worth sacrificing for. This was how SeeD's gained their
powers. Powers to protect. Powers to reach their goals. So it is that she
accepted. She would become a full SeeD.
The preparations were strange, nothing like she ever knew before. She
learned about the nature of Junctioning and Para-Magic. She was given the
knowledge of the summoning ritual, and she had to determine what Esper she
would most closely bond with, what would be the most suitable for her
nature. She chose Palidor, also known as Quetzalli, the Esper known for its
control of time and its flight high over the world.
The Esper was summoned, a tiny reflection of the truth bound within ancient
rituals and covenants established and unearthed long before she war born,
before SeeD even existed. It demanded that Riva prove herself, and took her
flying high over the world. She could see the land spinning slowly beneath
her, the lands of Kerwon, Valendia, and Ordalia splayed beneath her like a
child's drawing. Her mind reeled as she breathed deeply of the frigid air...
And she was told to jump. To leave it all behind, and accept the path she
had chosen.
She hesitated. Her mind told her to do this would mean her death. But her
heart said... This is the path. Take it.
She jumped, and fell forever. She screamed as she roared towards the ground,
and did not stop as she fell, cometlike, crashing through the earth,
descending through the crust and mantle, her burning flesh torn and shredded
with impossible prickles of pain. Her mind told her she should have been
dead even before impact, but she continued to descend, plunging through the
earth and darkness, through searing fire, as she beheld the streams of
power, just for a moment, that bound all life together, from the past to the
future, from the greatest to the smallest, all cycling around the pulsing
heart of the world.
And her eyes opened. She did not move. Everything was an illusion, though
her flesh prickled from the pain she experienced. Palidor looked into her
eyes... and proclaimed her worthy. She was then asked if she was prepared to
offer up the price: To sacrifice her past so she can gain the future she
seeks.
Riva, wordless, nodded.
A moment later, her mind shrieked as a terrifying, alien force touched her
mind and invaded. The village of Mobliz whirled through her mind, a golden
childhood, her smiling mother, her father kneeling over her. The
thundercrash, the behemoth, the boy, dancing along a roof. The blood
spreading along the ground. All of it, being rent into tatters, fed to this
alien creature as something /else/ was put in its place. Arcane sigils,
incomprehensible knowledge, words that man were never meant to utter flooded
the back of her mind, burned into the wreckage of her past with a searing
touch. She screamed. She screamed forever, as it went on, and on, and on...
Until blessed blackness took her.
One week later, she awoke in her bed in Balamb Garden, her home aw... No,
her home... The place she has always lived. She felt... energized... But the
alien knowledge was there, waiting for her in the back of her mind. Readyt
to be called upon.
She was now a SeeD.
And now she was ready to forge her path.
Riva can no longer remember her story. But her story is what shaped her
actions and caused her to make the choices that brought her to her place
today.
The loss of Riva's memory did not change who she was. She is essentially
still the determined, happy woman that she used to be. The training she
received at the Garden forged her into a deadly, professional weapon. She
still remembers her great purpose... But she doesn't remember why. Trying to
recall the past before the Garden only brings up vague snatches of alien
thought. Shapes she cannot understand, words and letters that burn her eyes.
The memories are gone because something /else/ is there. She is not entirely
comfortable with the alien knowlege that has been none-too-gently
overwritten in her mind, but it allows her to draw upon powers and knowledge
that she would never have otherwise.
She remembers nothing before she entered the Garden. She may know some
things intellectually, but she has no emotional attatchment to them anymore.
Mobliz is just another place. Her parents just other people. The loss of her
past had helped in some ways, as well. She finds it easier to bond with
others, without having the terrible grief that she shied away from. Once in
a while, she feels a dull ache in her breast, but doesn't know why.
She still works to prove herself and make use of the things she learned from
Jean and Katarine in order to enter the higher levels of SeeD Training, and
eventually grow further into a great person, someone who will be able to
protect that which is dear to her. To prevent people from experiencing the
terrors she no longer can remember. To wield the cery kind of power that had
saved her and her people.
And thus the circle moves on, towards destiny.
Name: Riva Banari
Race: Hume
Gender: Female
Class: Chronobomber
Zodiac: Pisces
Hometown: Balamb Garden
Faction: Rebellion
Limit Break: Paradox Blast
Quote: There's a lot of dangerous things out there. I help make sure they
don't come here.
Profile: On the surface, Riva appears to be one of many successful SeeD
candidates: Professional, deadly, and even-tempered. However, she is also
friendly and outgoing to others. She has a strong protective instinct,
trying to keep those less powerful or fortunate than herself protected
against those who would abuse them. However, she similarly has a strong
sense of justice, such that those who abuse her good will are rarely given a
chance to do so again. In battle, Riva makes use of her Junctioned Esper,
Palidor, in order to infuse the small handbombs she carries with mystical
energies to augment their effectiveness.
Skills: Speedballer, Blast From The Past, And The Future, Where Does She Get
So Many Bombs?, Esper Lore (20%), Time Bomber, Monster Hunter, Ia Ia Palidor
Ftaghn, Not Dr. Gravity, SeeD Package Flaw: Amnesia, Does It Matter If Your
Parents Are Alive If You Can't Remember Them?
4) It Builds Character
The story of Riva Banari begins on the Veldt. The Veldt is a vast savannah
plain that covers an entire third of the continent of Kerwon, direcly
abutting the Feywood. The Mist-glutted Feywood is the source of countless
monsters and mutants, the lesser of which are often forced out onto the
plains for sustenance. Thus it is that the Veldt is home to creatures of all
types, shapes, and sizes. It is a harsh and dangerous place, though some try
to make a living hunting the beasts that roam there.
Being on the edge of the Veldt, the people of the town of Mobliz were
hardened hunters and trackers, but even they occasionally had difficulty
with the teeming monster life. An occurance where someone does not return
from their hunt was regrettably common enough for people to remember them.
But the hides and meats provided for the people of the town, and it endured.
Riva's childhood was bright and pleasant. Her father was an accomplished
hunter, and never went out onto the Veldt alone. He had to share his
findings, as was tradition, but strength came in numbers. Many of those who
never returned were those who went alone. Riva's mother cared for the home,
helped to tend the wounds of her husband and others who returned wounded
from their dangerous hunts, helped with the tanning and butchering to create
the leather and meat that sustained the town, made them profitable. Riva
herself lived and learned a golden childhood, playing with the other
children. She listened to her parents, who loved her and told her of the
fearsome monsters that lurked outside the village. She knew they existed,
because the hunters brought them home.
One day, the hunters brought back a great beast, easily three times the size
of a man. She walked up to the beast and laid a hand on it, feeling the
cooling fur, looking into the glassy eyes of the creature. Feeling the rough
skin and hard muscle beneath, bereft of life. She stared at it for a long
time, and eventually her father took her home for dinner, gently. It was her
first encounter with death, and something that helped shape her outlook,
even later on.
As she grew into her teenage years, Riva learned the life of a woman on the
Veldt. She learned to care for herself and the others around her. She
learned wortcraft and herbcraft from her mother, the basics of butchering
and tanning. She argued with her parents as she grew, like all children. She
thought she had the world figured out, but they eventually reconciled each
time. It was a normal circle of life.
She began to discover how interesting boys were, which caused her mother and
father no end of concern. She flirted with the boys, trying to see what the
similarly growing teenagers would do to keep her interest. After a few
encounters, however, she learned to restrain herself a bit more, especially
after an incident where a boy who was showing off for her managed to fall
off of a roof. He lived, but she felt responsible. Guilty, even. Every time
she looked at him, she was reminded of the nature of consequences for
actions, and the darker side of influencing others. She stopped being so
coercive after that, which helped her mother and father relax a bit. Still,
it didn't keep that silly boy from continuing to try to win her. Over time,
she started wondering if he might be worthwhile as well. They started seeing
each other more often, talking about the future and various things. He said
he was going to be a great hunter. She laughed.
Everything changed when the great beast came. The skies darkened, a
thunderstorm blowing as if to herald the arrival of destruction. The ground
shook and the creature hulked from the darkness like a mountain with
red-glowing eyes. It was a terrifying Behemoth, one of the most terrible
fiends in the world of Ivalice. Riva cowered in the shadow of a wrecked
home, but she could do nothing besides watch in horror as the hunters rushed
to face it.
They did poorly. With a strike of its claw, many of them were scattered
away. Her father fought the beast, leaping and striking bravely, but they
could not significantly damage th armor-like hide of the creature. Finally,
it roared to the heavens... And they parted, a meteor falling to strike
before it with a cacaphonic roar.
The people of Mobliz ere scattered, many of the hunters slain outright.
Riva's father was on of the lucky ones, and only caught by the edge of the
blast. But nothing stood in its way now, and it could feast with abandon...
Until a second great beast shimmered into existence, a serpent of lightning
that struck and blasted the Behemoth with magical forces. It reeled back,
and a man walked forward, dressed in a uniform. Riva's father, still
conscious, croaked out a word that Riva could hear. "SeeD." The man struck
the behemoth, fighting with magic and blade, and after a titanic battle the
Behemoth fell. The people hailed the man as their savior, but he turned
away, and left the people to the less joyous task of attending to their dead
and wounded, and rebuilding the town.
Amazingly, Riva's parents survived. Her mother was busy for some time,
working to help everyone she could. Her father was wounded and laid up. The
boy who fell off of the house was crushed under the very building he had
been dancing on to impress Riva. She cried. Grief overwhelmed her, as she
felt things she didn't know she was capable of feeling before. It took a
great deal of time for her to cope. However, she couldn't stop where she
was. There was too much to do, and she had to keep moving forward. That was
something her mother and father taught her. Riva herself helped over the
next few weeks... But she also asked the people around them: "What is SeeD?"
She got a lot of different answers. SeeD are mercenaries. SeeD is a cult.
SeeD is full of demon-worshipers. SeeD is the best thing that ever happened
to Mobliz. Some of the hunters in Mobliz were people who left or washed out
of the SeeD training. But what everyone agreed on is the same thing: No one
who fully joins SeeD ever leaves.
Even so, a determination was born in Riva. She wanted to do something about
the beasts that attacked innocent people. She wanted to protect them. She
wanted to gain the ability to make sure something like this never happened
again. Eventually, she made a decision. She would join SeeD.
Her parents did not approve. They argued with her. The fights were fierce,
but eventually they saw her determination when she began working to gain
money on her own to pay for admission. If they would not approve, she would
find a way to do it herself. She finally encountered something she felt
passionate enough to work on her own. When her parents saw that, they
grudgingly decided to help her, giving her enough of their savings to allow
her to make the journey to the nearby Balamb Garden and enroll.
She reached Balamb on her 16th birthday, and enrolled.
Training began immediately, and it was more intense than anything she had
ever felt before.
Her first instructor was a hard bastard who called himself Jean Faraven. Her
made her life hell, and it was hate on first sight. She gritted her teeth as
he yelled in her face for the slightest faults. She yelled as she performed
laps around the Garden when her physical test scores weren't up to par. She
took that rage and channeled it. She wouldn't let this bastard break her.
She would become stronger. Better. Faster. Even as he appeared out of
nowhere, testing her mind with a pop-quiz, she found a goal to achieve.
Something more immediate than the nebulous desire to protect.
She wanted to beat this guy's ass. Of course, he was a full SeeD, and his
skills were undeniable as had been demonstrated repeatedly on the practice
floor. The time where she was unceremoiously dragged from her bed in the
middle of the night and forced to remain in the training grounds didn't
help, either. The jackass had barred the normal 'meeting place', so all she
could do was take her survival knife and carve out a safe place to hide for
the night. She killed a couple small creatures in the process before they
took off her arm. It was no wonder to her why so few people survived the
process, why so many dropped out.
Keeping her anger and the boy she had loved firmly in her mind, she
persisted.
Even as Jean toughened her body, another instructor, Katarine, sharpened her
mind. Katarine taught her of greater things in the world. Of politics,
religions, mathematics and science. Her punishments were just as harsh as
Jean's in her own way, but she had a kindness that helped offset the
unrelenting harshness of the course. Katarine helped show her that there are
greater things in life to aspire to. She did not suffer fools lightly,
however, and Riva found herself on several fairly creative punishment
details as a result. Katarine told her of the Espers, the great mythological
beasts that controlled amazing powers. Riva found out the background of the
lightning serpent that had smitten the Behemoth, and the concepts fascinated
her.
Katarine also helped teach Riva about the past of the Garden, showing her
what they did and why. Many of her questions were answered in that time. She
also encouraged Riva to get involved with others there, to forge bonds. Not
that she needed much encouragement, but Katarine did teach her how to play
Triple Triad, one of the most popular pasttimes around Balamb.
From both of them she learned how to tap the Mist around her to channel it
into elemental effects. She learned how to imbue an manipulate that energy
to achieve things no normal warrior could do. She was gaining power and
ability, and the rush, the thrill of power was tempered by the lessons
taught by Jean and Katarine. She learned self-control. While she was
proficient in close combat like any SeeD, she found that she had a knack for
thrown weapons. Specifically, she liked a certain kind of handbomb designed
for mid-range combat. She practiced with the weapons, learning how to imbue,
prime, arm, and launch the bombs in a single smooth motion. She incorporated
this into an acrobatic fighting style, which became unusual among SeeD in a
land of gunblades and melee fighting. However, her effectiveness was
generally self-evident.
From Jean, she learned discipline. From Katarine, she learned compassion.
But those were not the only people she interacted with. She was part of a
class, and her classmates were all there for many other reasons. Many of
them were orphans, which caused Riva pause. Why were there so many orphans?
But it only joined the multitude of others as she learned about the lives
around her. She laughed. she cried, she shared lunches. The hot dogs were
always in high demand, but she got some, occasionally. She was on good terms
with a lot of people, but she didn't establish any real deep bonds. In a
way, she was still afraid of what happened to the boy. Would she be willing
to risk that again? Grief was a powerful thing.
Finally, she had reached the end of the normal curriculum. She was brought
before Cid Kramer, headmaster of Balamb Garden, and given a choice: She
could end her training now and do some mercenary work for them in a lesser
role in order to pay off the rest of her (fairly large) tuition expenses, or
she could choose to commit completely to SeeD, and learn how to Junction.
The cost, however, was great. She would forget a great deal of her past
before entering SeeD, as a cost of forging the link with the Esper. Now she
understood why no one who became a SeeD ever came back. Why there were so
many orphans. It was easier for someone who had an unpleasant life to let go
of it.
But there are things worth sacrificing for. This was how SeeD's gained their
powers. Powers to protect. Powers to reach their goals. So it is that she
accepted. She would become a full SeeD.
The preparations were strange, nothing like she ever knew before. She
learned about the nature of Junctioning and Para-Magic. She was given the
knowledge of the summoning ritual, and she had to determine what Esper she
would most closely bond with, what would be the most suitable for her
nature. She chose Palidor, also known as Quetzalli, the Esper known for its
control of time and its flight high over the world.
The Esper was summoned, a tiny reflection of the truth bound within ancient
rituals and covenants established and unearthed long before she war born,
before SeeD even existed. It demanded that Riva prove herself, and took her
flying high over the world. She could see the land spinning slowly beneath
her, the lands of Kerwon, Valendia, and Ordalia splayed beneath her like a
child's drawing. Her mind reeled as she breathed deeply of the frigid air...
And she was told to jump. To leave it all behind, and accept the path she
had chosen.
She hesitated. Her mind told her to do this would mean her death. But her
heart said... This is the path. Take it.
She jumped, and fell forever. She screamed as she roared towards the ground,
and did not stop as she fell, cometlike, crashing through the earth,
descending through the crust and mantle, her burning flesh torn and shredded
with impossible prickles of pain. Her mind told her she should have been
dead even before impact, but she continued to descend, plunging through the
earth and darkness, through searing fire, as she beheld the streams of
power, just for a moment, that bound all life together, from the past to the
future, from the greatest to the smallest, all cycling around the pulsing
heart of the world.
And her eyes opened. She did not move. Everything was an illusion, though
her flesh prickled from the pain she experienced. Palidor looked into her
eyes... and proclaimed her worthy. She was then asked if she was prepared to
offer up the price: To sacrifice her past so she can gain the future she
seeks.
Riva, wordless, nodded.
A moment later, her mind shrieked as a terrifying, alien force touched her
mind and invaded. The village of Mobliz whirled through her mind, a golden
childhood, her smiling mother, her father kneeling over her. The
thundercrash, the behemoth, the boy, dancing along a roof. The blood
spreading along the ground. All of it, being rent into tatters, fed to this
alien creature as something /else/ was put in its place. Arcane sigils,
incomprehensible knowledge, words that man were never meant to utter flooded
the back of her mind, burned into the wreckage of her past with a searing
touch. She screamed. She screamed forever, as it went on, and on, and on...
Until blessed blackness took her.
One week later, she awoke in her bed in Balamb Garden, her home aw... No,
her home... The place she has always lived. She felt... energized... But the
alien knowledge was there, waiting for her in the back of her mind. Readyt
to be called upon.
She was now a SeeD.
And now she was ready to forge her path.
Riva can no longer remember her story. But her story is what shaped her
actions and caused her to make the choices that brought her to her place
today.
The loss of Riva's memory did not change who she was. She is essentially
still the determined, happy woman that she used to be. The training she
received at the Garden forged her into a deadly, professional weapon. She
still remembers her great purpose... But she doesn't remember why. Trying to
recall the past before the Garden only brings up vague snatches of alien
thought. Shapes she cannot understand, words and letters that burn her eyes.
The memories are gone because something /else/ is there. She is not entirely
comfortable with the alien knowlege that has been none-too-gently
overwritten in her mind, but it allows her to draw upon powers and knowledge
that she would never have otherwise.
She remembers nothing before she entered the Garden. She may know some
things intellectually, but she has no emotional attatchment to them anymore.
Mobliz is just another place. Her parents just other people. The loss of her
past had helped in some ways, as well. She finds it easier to bond with
others, without having the terrible grief that she shied away from. Once in
a while, she feels a dull ache in her breast, but doesn't know why.
She still works to prove herself and make use of the things she learned from
Jean and Katarine in order to enter the higher levels of SeeD Training, and
eventually grow further into a great person, someone who will be able to
protect that which is dear to her. To prevent people from experiencing the
terrors she no longer can remember. To wield the cery kind of power that had
saved her and her people.
And thus the circle moves on, towards destiny.