escordvi | [OPEN] May Catch-All

Who: Dion and you!
Status: Open
Where: Various locations
What: Open and Closed General and MANTA prompts
Warnings: None as of yet, will update as needed

Shellton | Eltrut | "Movable Type" Bookshop - OTA
[While there are many things to see and do throughout the wide world of Escordvi, Dion has started small and has started by taking time for leisure, something he rarely had time for in Valisthea, and so he was browsing shelves, surprisingly vast ones, in a bookshop off the main market. Mostly, the tall blond is keeping himself to the non-fiction section, amazed at the sheer number of titles spanning the shelves. It would seem printing was a thing here, as the typewriter which initiated him suggested, and he's rarely seen so many books collected in one place.

So much knowledge is collected here he hardly knows where to begin, and so he might turn to a fellow browser, leaning slightly so as to keep his voice low.]

Begging your pardon, of course, could you perchance suggest a title? I've no idea where to begin.

Eltrut | A Clearing Outside Shellton | OTA
[He's received a word of warning from Jill regarding the potential potency of Bahamut, which only serves to further reinforce the caution Benedikta instilled in him, and so in an effort to assure he's prepared to aid those here in whatever capacity he is able, Dion has found a suitable clearing outside the port in order to acclimate to the way his Aether pools in this place.

The prince is clad in his mithril armor for no other reason than it serves the purpose of protection and doesn't force him to spend doubloons he'd rather keep for food, and sets about moving through warm-up drills first: simple polearm forms designed to get his muscles loose and to work out the stiffness from his joints he always experiences in association with the Crystal's curse that's slowly turning all Bearers and Dominants to stone.

He'll welcome the company, and is more than game to spar with anyone looking to hone their skills or keep themselves sharp. He'll offer an amicable smile when he pauses in his rhythm, inclining his head.]

Well met. Are you looking to sharpen or observe?

[wildcard]
(OOC: feel free to throw whatever scene you'd like at me! If you'd like a specific prompt, feel free to drop me a line on plurk at

vikael or on discord at vikael, but I'm pretty flexible and can fall in with whatever you're feeling!

MANTA prompts are in their own thread below)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He's being observed and that alone makes him a bit wary, although he cocks his head to the side rather quizzically at the question.

Dion's perception is correct, but there's far more that he can do with these feathers. One could follow the conclusion that the hundreds on his back are all little knives - entirely accurately at that. ]

Am I supposed to enjoy it? [ He wasn't expecting that question. ]

It's a vitally important aspect to keep me alive in my job so I can keep other people alive. I'd rather that it not be necessary.

It isn't a question of whether or not you're meant to enjoy it, but only whether or not you do.

[He frowns and stands more straight.]

Hang your handlers' expectations for a moment. Your job on your star has no bearing here, and it was never your choice. I ask what you would choose, if given one. You need not have an answer now, but I urge you to seek one. What makes your heart sing, Hawks? Think on it. I will ask again when next we meet.

I don't need to think about that.

[ Hawks' tone is warm and his smile is gentle. ]

I want to be a hero. I want to help people and make a difference in their lives. I've wanted to do that since I was six. I like that part of my job. Meeting people, making them smile. I like all of that. It's the other things that I don't like about my job as much.

Being a hero is not romantic.

[And you didn't get to decide whether you were a hero or not. The people decided for you, and those expectations could break you.]

But the desire to help people is earnest enough. What of here? There are many opportunities to better the lives of others without bloodshed. You need not suffer the one to attain the other.

Oh, I'm very aware. [ Even if he'd become one the traditional way, he's seen enough to know the unpleasant sides of heroism. ]

I always try my best to avoid bloodshed, but if that's the only option I'm also someone who is able to do that. I'd rather do it and spare others the unpleasantness. However, most of what I've been doing here is talking people down from bad ideas and helping people with small tasks, just like I do on my patrols.

I think people remember it if you carry things for them and relieve their burden for ten minutes a lot longer than ten minutes. I don't know. [ He's always been like this, and the Commission has used it to manipulate him. ]

[As Hawks explains, Dion's expression softens. He hears notes of familiarity in his words, things that speak to the man Dion is as much as this man evidently is before him.]

I often pray they do. It's...good to know I'm not alone in that.

I think they do. I think it matters to them. In my world they rely on heroes too much, but...I do love the people of my city. One of the choices I was given was the location of my agency. I went back to my hometown. The Commission liked it because not a lot of heroes operate in that area. Too low income. But in their eyes that was less competition.

[ He lets out a soft sigh. ] I like helping people who really need it. Even when I don't get credit for things like that.

Heroes don't seek credit.

[Not the ones songs are sung about. He doesn't really have a frame of reference for an agency, but he assumes it's something like the army, having stations in many towns and forts in others.

He looks back toward town before retrieving his halberd.]

I believe that is enough training for the day. If you would join me in town, I wouldn't mind hearing more of your hometown. It sounds quaint.

[He really didn't mean that as insulting.]

I don't disagree with you there, but our system is set up that way. [ It is, in fact, a major flaw.

Now this has been incredibly light as far as training goes, because they got distracted by the conversation, but the goal of feeling the other out was accomplished. Hawks has a pretty decent idea of what Dion can do with a halberd, and he's pretty impressed.

The Commission would have him train until he's broken and bleeding and then they'd tell him to keep going. Highly unnecessary in this place. ]

I don't know if quaint is the right word. [ Hawks chuckles. ] There are a million and a half people that live there.

[As was his, truth be told. If he had to hear one more bard singing his praises-

But he didn't. Not here. Here...he could simply be Dion. How refreshing.

His eyebrows raise at the number.]

I would hazard to say so many called the whole of Sanbreque home. So many? How are they fed? Housed?

[This is mindboggling.]

[ The modern version of bards go on about him constantly too, and he has to behave in certain ways all the time. It's genuinely exhausting.

Admittedly, he doesn't really miss the fame. ]

Fukuoka is just one city in our country. Primarily people are responsible for themselves. We have large apartment buildings with mostly tiny apartments that people live in, and they work at a wide variety of jobs. That's not to say there aren't some impoverished people. [ He'd know. ] And getting them help is part of a hero's job I think. It's not as much of a problem in Fukuoka that it used to be.

[ Hawks has done some low key work in that area to try and improve things, within his limitations. He might be limited, but his sidekicks aren't. ]

Forgive me. Those numbers are mindboggling. [Admittedly, Valisthea is not the entirety if his star. There is another continent, across the southern sea, from which his former mentor hailed, but the man had never had occasion to share tales of it with Dion.]

I believe our stars are vastly different.

I get that a lot. [ Hawks chuckles and shrugs slightly. ]

I think it's interesting though, getting to learn about different worlds. Kind of challenges things I know to be how they are in my world to learn it's not like that elsewhere.

[He nods.] A sound point, and I would hear more of this work so heavily populated.

[ Hawks will be happy to go over the details of daily life in a populated city and country, as well as how things work in what is a more futuristic place than Dion comes from. A good conversation to have over a meal or a drink. ]

[OPEN] May Catch-All

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That should be good here, I think