Homeless, Mun's been looking at this Facility....

[oldstrangersvoice]

Listen, kid. Now I don't mind being here entirely. Nice fine mind you've got, you'll make your city's mancers... or whatever you've been calling them...proud. I'm touched I remind you of another old man you used to know, too.

But that don't mean I'm eager to be shipping off to that place you're so fond of. Give it a think through before you make any...rash decisions. You got two fine gentlemen and that young lady of yours already living in that place, ain't really room for a spare.

Not like I'd fit in, anyhow. That's a place for fighting men. My fighting days are long over.

Comments

[oldstrangersvoice]

Don't waste your honor on an old man like me. [He chuckles]

People always act like your life ends when you're done your fighting days.

[he thinks on that for a spell]

Well. Mine didn't, anyway.

[lostwanderer]

I didn't mean to insinuate that it did.

...where I am from the old have an honorable place. They train the newer generations, and their wisdom is always sought in every major decision.

I wouldn't have been nearly as good with a bow if it hadn't been for my mentor.

[oldstrangersvoice]

Don't sound all that different from where I'm from. Though I'm not sure I ever have heard of any older breakers.

As for wisdom, though...suppose you're right. The old and the wise always did have a place in Caelondia.

Where are you from, son?

Thank you for being so vague, SotC. XD; Y U MAKE ME MAKE SHIT UP

[lostwanderer]

We call it Kampe Akendo. It's mostly grassland, but my village is bordered by a forest and a river. *...give him a minute. There's a lot of memories here. Not all of them pleasant.*

Making things up is a mark of a proper story

[oldstrangersvoice]

[he pauses, letting him think it through, and when it's obvious there's a break in the conversation he clears his throat]

Sounds like a pretty place. I'm a city man myself, born and bred, but I knew many as prefer the wilds.

Unless of course, you aren't remembering it too fondly.

Or Ueda's storytelling.

[lostwanderer]

...our shaman sacrificed the woman I love. For some... "omen" that she had a cursed fate.

[oldstrangersvoice]

[Rucks frowns, and his voice grows bitter, less warm that it was before]

Gods. Never been on speaking terms with Gods. Only curse that young lady had was the company of superstitious minded fools, sounds like.

What'd you do?

[lostwanderer]

...I...stole the Sword of Light. I went to the forbidden land. To look for the old god. Dormin.

They said he had the power to bring the dead back to life...

[oldstrangersvoice]

Sounds like a proper beginning to a story. Doesn't it.

Relying on the gods for help, hmmm. [He's not judging, but from the sound of it he wouldn't have done quite that.]

So there's the beginning. How did it end?

[lostwanderer]

I did what they asked. I hunted the colossi. All sixteen of them. ...I woke up here, like this. I don't know what happened to Mono.

[oldstrangersvoice]

Funny how gods've never seemed to grasp the concept of favors for favors.

But hey. Maybe they have. Seen a lot of strange folk hereabouts. Maybe your little lady's one of them.

[lostwanderer]

Perhaps...

[oldstrangersvoice]

Aw now don't be like that. You go all perhaps and she'll slip by you. Go on, son. You find that girl. Give your story a proper ending.

[lostwanderer]

...Look at me. Would she even recognize me?

[oldstrangersvoice]

Naw.

Bet she'd be looking for a young man with a smile on his face. Sure ain't gonna recognize you like that.

[lostwanderer]

.... *what a strange old man.*

The last time we met, I didn't look like...like this.

[oldstrangersvoice]

Maybe not. But you're still the same kid, still the same young man your girl fell for back then. You been through hell and back to find her- that'd be what they call dedication. That'd be what they call love, wouldn't it.

[lostwanderer]

....She's my everything.

[oldstrangersvoice]

And you think that's all changed 'cause you're a little green round the gills now?

[he shakes his head]

No, sir. Who knows what this lady looks like, but I'd be surprised if she came out of death looking fresh as a daisy.

That really what matters, son? She'll be her, y'hear?

[lostwanderer]

Every time I return to the temple, she looks more vibrant. Alive.

But I understand.

[oldstrangersvoice]

You'll make it, kid. Wouldn't be a good story if you didn't.