[Video/Action for Rabanastre-bound]
Jan. 22nd, 2011 09:14 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
danceawaypain.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
mooglenet_backup[This happened before so it's not a surprise to Penelo, but unfortunately it's still heartbreaking to see her home completely devoid of people. She's standing inside Migelo's Sundries, checking the stock like she did when she was still a young orphan under his wardship. Everything's in order. Only there are no people. No customers lifting goods, haggling over prices. No shopkeepers endorsing products or taking payment. No one. The streets outside the shop are the same and it's frightening. Never in her life has she seen her the bustling desert capital wholly empty.
At long last, she'll take a deep breath and turn on the phone, forcing herself to smile and find the best in the situation.]
I don't know how, but it's happening again. Never thought I'd see Rabanastre so quiet. It's almost like it's somewhere else entirely.
[What she's not saying is that it reminds her of Nabudis in an eerie way, only even then there were the shrieks and growls of monsters lingering in the Mist. Here, there's not even that.]
At long last, she'll take a deep breath and turn on the phone, forcing herself to smile and find the best in the situation.]
I don't know how, but it's happening again. Never thought I'd see Rabanastre so quiet. It's almost like it's somewhere else entirely.
[What she's not saying is that it reminds her of Nabudis in an eerie way, only even then there were the shrieks and growls of monsters lingering in the Mist. Here, there's not even that.]
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[video]
Date: 2011-01-22 08:41 pm (UTC)[Edward chimes in after a moment or so after the earlier footage ends. He's unsure what to think about this latest turn of events, but the bard is riddled with worry. Is this Garland's doing? It must be, but how!? No sort of magic is supposed to be this powerful.]
How is this...happening? This is your home, is it not?
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 01:35 am (UTC)[She tilts the camera just a little to give Edward a better view.]
This is Migelo's shop. He's the one who took me in when my parents died. I worked odd jobs for him.
... would you like to see the city?
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 01:44 am (UTC)Yes, I do! I may never see Ivalice with my own eyes, but here on Gaia I can at least see your Rabanstre.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 01:52 am (UTC)Up ahead, you can see Ashe's palace. I'll show you soon.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 01:57 am (UTC)Ashe? You mean the Queen of Dalmasca, yes? I just seen her recently at the latest meeting!
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 02:06 am (UTC)[Penelo's eyes are eating up the sight of the place. It's been years since she's seen the city.]
This is the clan hall. Clans work to take on jobs and hunts. It's a good way to make a living for some people.
[As she comes down the stairs, she crosses into the bazaar area.]
That's the moogling. It, hmm... I still don't quite know how it works, but it zips you from one section of the city to another. Like a smaller gate crystal.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 02:19 am (UTC)[Watching eagerly in pure fascination, Edward looked a tad perplexed once Penelo began to explain the Moogling.]
Ah? The moogles know magic?
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 02:22 am (UTC)[She enters the bazaar and shows the empty stalls, as a small sigh escapes.]
This is... usually the most bustling bazaar in the city. It's so strange not to smell or hear anything.
If Vaan were here, I bet he'd steal everything he could carry.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 02:32 am (UTC)[After witnessing such a marvel as the "skyphone", Edward believes their little furry friends are more intelligent than they let on.]
Vaan was quite a troublemaker during the old days, wasn't he?
[He smiled at the thought of the roguish youth. Edward missed having Vaan around, but that was because he missed seeing Penelo chase him around with a frying pan.]
What is the bazaar really like, Penelo? I can imagine that on a good day there would be many people lining the streets.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 02:43 am (UTC)[Stinker. Penelo is so fond of him though, it's hard to nag with him gone.]
Crowded and loud. Clinking and clanking of goods being moved there's the low rumble of people haggling and visiting with friends. Sometimes someone yelling over the crowd to get everyone's attention on their stall. And people, so many people that it's hard to move. Chocobos pull goods in and out and there's always fresh food being cooked that you can take home.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 04:46 am (UTC)[Edward chuckled lightly at Penelo's parting words regarding Vaan. The young rogue is quite a troublemaker, but even so he could tell that Penelo missed him terribly.]
Sounds quite festive! It's hard to believe that the same bazaar you speak of is so desolate now.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-23 04:31 pm (UTC)[She steals one last look at the place before turning to cross the city into the Southern Plaza. Aside from being a pretty spot, there's not much to comment on, but plenty to show. She pauses in front of the wide open gates of the city, half afraid it will send her back. From there they can see where the desert stretches out far as the eye can see beyond the city boundaries.]
I didn't realize how much I missed this place.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-25 10:26 pm (UTC)He was beginning to have his doubts.]
Penelo?
[video]
Date: 2011-01-25 10:35 pm (UTC)[She gives Edward a reassuring smile then turns off to the gate leading into Lowtown. There are still signs of people living in the warehouses, though not as many as there once were. She points off to one of them.]
This is Lowtown. When the Empire came, they moved us down here. These used to be warehouses but then the people started to live in them. That's Old Dalan's place.
A lot of the kids were orphaned in the war and didn't have anywhere to go. We all stuck together and made it by okay.
[After walking and talking for a while, she picks out a collection of crates and little else blocking off a dark corner.]
That's where I stayed with Vaan and the others.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-25 10:50 pm (UTC)You...lived there? But how? This place it's unfit for anyone to live there!
[That's when the realization of it all hit him. Penelo, the proud Dalmascan that she was, once lived literally in the sewers of Rabanstre. Lowtown was nothing more than a cluster of shanties formed to horde Dalmasca's poor and orphaned, while the Empire's elites ruled the streets above. Edward knew a little regarding the conflicts of Ivalice, but this was too sad.]
Vaan and you both endured so much, Penelo.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-25 10:59 pm (UTC)[Her way of putting a positive spin on things, perhaps, but then that's what kept her strong. Finding a way to be resilient. She turns to take the stairs back up to the East End, tired of the dark underbelly of the city.]
It's not so bad now. Ashe is the queen and Dalmasca's almost the way it was before the war. We all made it. Well, most of us.
War is awful though. I don't ever want to see another one.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-25 11:04 pm (UTC)That you have, my love. That you have...
[Sharing in her distaste for war, Edward is quick to speak.]
As long as we believe in the might of a pen over a sword, Dalmasca shall never see war again. The same goes for my Damcyan, Penelo.
I will not allow another war to ruin the beauty that is "peace" for a second time.
[video]
Date: 2011-01-26 03:10 am (UTC)[Penelo mirrors his smile and nods once.]