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[heartofthestar]

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[tantailizing]

Actually, the fusion didn't work. Terra was rejected, but ended up fused inside the planet while some of its landmarks appeared on the surface and its moon started orbiting this new planet. A lot of life ended up lost including on Terra.

[But Zidane shakes his head and shrugs.] Now with Terra trapped, Garland decided he would keep trying to turn this new planet, Gaia, into Terra from the inside out. Meanwhile, what Terrans survived put their souls into stasis.

[heartofthestar]

Oh. [Venat curls her fingers, mind already racing to analyze just what might have happened. An enforced Rejoining, without the "Re-" -- the incompatibilities must have made the connection impossible. What a terrifying thought... Any sort of survivors were lucky indeed.]

This Garland fellow puts me in mind of some others I knew.

[The Unsundered, whose commitment to the Rejoining never wavered. No wonder Meteion's report had been so dark and unsparing, if people truly were like this in all times and all places.]

A work of centuries, if not millennia, I'd wager.

[tantailizing]

Oh yeah? They weren't robots too, were they?

[He nods this time at her statement.]

Yeah, but not for his lack of trying. First, he planted the Iifa Tree to try blocking souls from returning to Gaia and introducing Terra's souls instead to the other planet, but it was taking its time. He tried speeding it up too by making kingdoms go to war through this stuff called Mist which, when you're exposed to it too long, it ramps up every hostile feeling a person has. Course, that didn't work so well when kingdoms began building above the Mist and also using it as an energy source.

[heartofthestar]

[That coaxes a wan smile out of her.]

It is ever the fate of those who conduct such grand plans to neglect the influence of those people they consider smaller and lesser.

[tantailizing]

Hehe, right?

[He grins wide... but too bad his story wasn't over.]

Well, since that plan wasn't working anymore, Garland moved onto his second plan. He was already making new vessels for the Terra's souls when he finally claimed Gaia so he decided to make a being that could travel to Gaia and instigate wars that way. The person he created, he named them Kuja.

[heartofthestar]

Was he a mammet as well? Or, beg pardon, a robot? Or a more conventionally-created being?

[tantailizing]

He was pretty human by all accounts. Did his work pretty well too, but Garland wasn't satisfied with him. He'd created Kuja almost without flaw, but found his strength lacking because he didn't have a soul.

[heartofthestar]

[No explanation needed, Venat understands. Does this far off world of Gaia, or Terra for that matter, understand dynamis, or is it the same mystery it was on Etheirys for so long?]

If I were to guess... he discarded Kuja immediately in favor of a new model.

[tantailizing]

Aha, that would've been the nicer option probably. Nah, he kept Kuja around, but on a reduced lifespan to make the next model with a soul. He was going to make sure that the second one had the power to handle any conflict they might encounter on Gaia; but he didn't fully consider that Kuja wouldn't like the idea of being replaced.

[heartofthestar]

He had no consideration that Kuja might consider himself a person and worthy of life...

[The arrogance of the Ascians, played out in full once again. How she had hoped to hear otherwise, yet truly, what else could be true? Only those who move forward can avoid those mistakes, and yet Garland's very identity demanded turning the clock back.]

[tantailizing]

Nope. Kuja and any of the ones created after him were tools for an end after all. Garland considered Kuja a wrench though 'cause he really messed things up for him soon. He took the second project and threw it away on Gaia. Why he didn't just destroy it? Probably to prove he'd be superior to them one day.

[heartofthestar]

But he was created in turn -- a being set to a long task, one which required he have no compunctions or scruples. I wonder, perhaps, if Garland did not even know caring was an option.

[tantailizing]

Probably not. I mean, he still had some feelings, but usually in response to things going against his plans and Terra. Like, after Kuja's whole stint, Garland banished him to Terra too... and then made a third to replace him and the second one.

Tellin' ya, pretty expendable. I don't think he even tried finding the other; probably thought it died since he made it develop from a baby and all.

[heartofthestar]

That sort of oversight could never come back to haunt him, of course. [She picks up what he puts down, with a faint smile.]

[tantailizing]

Of course not. No chance at all he'd be picked up and adopted, y'know? Not a chance...

[He grins wide. She gets it.]

[heartofthestar]

And so I gather these two had power. More than enough to play havoc with every plan and idea of Gaia and Terra both.

[tantailizing]

It wouldn't be for years until he got into it. Might've left Kuja and Garland to their things still, but that part of the adventure all begins with a small outing to kidnap a princess for her safety.

[heartofthestar]

Well then. [Venat folds her hands together, leaning in slightly as the story seems to pick up.] Certainly you'd never be on such a mission, adhering as you do to the straight and narrow.

[tantailizing]

Of cooourse... besides, is it really kidnapping when the Princess asks to be kidnapped? Too bad her knight went and made it difficult. Ruined a play, ruined an airship, and sent everyone crashing straight into the Evil Forest where no creature that's entered has ever been said to survive. Not to mention, we were now in the Mist.

[heartofthestar]

Well, if no one who goes in survives, that must be the end of the story.

[She doesn't even bother trying to hide her amusement.]

[tantailizing]

Yup! Guess we're cancelling lunch...

... but nah, we had to split up with some of the crew and one person got petrified. Still, we made it out and started walking. With North Gate and South Gate closed, we had to take the scenic route through the Ice Cavern. Vivi said it'd get us above the Mist and that was really first priority, but damn, none of us were dressed for that except him.

[heartofthestar]

[She might be losing the thread just a bit, as mention of gates comes and goes without warning, but she writes off that to context.]

Vivi was a member of your band of merry criminals, then?

[tantailizing]

Nah, Vivi's a kid that got tangled up in everything. I think what happened was he snuck in to see the play so the knights ended up chasing him. However, he might've run onto our stage since he didn't have too many other ways to go. Why not bring him along?

[heartofthestar]

I can think of a fair few reasons, if I'm to be utterly truthful.

[Adventure is one thing, but involving a kid? And Vivi must be a kid indeed, considering Zidane used that word and is... not exactly elderly, himself.]

[tantailizing]

Yeah, probably, but it was either bring him along or he might end up in the dungeons.

[What is leniency on children in his world?]

Anyway, where was I? Oh right, Ice Caverns. We almost got taken out there by one of the Queen's goons. Which, y'know, not fair they caught up that fast, but I guess when you have wings it's whatever.