log; welcome to roland, morgan

[hammy]

[Congrats, Morgan. You're... well, you probably have no idea where you are. Judging from the surroundings, though, it seems to be a noble's home, late at night. The hallway is mostly dark, illuminated only slightly by light coming from other rooms, the air is silent—

—and then there sure is a knife flying straight at you.]

Comments

[hammy]

[He laughs.]

You think age has anything to do with it in this place?

[Morgan...]

[intendance]

...It should for you! Sheesh.

[A shake of her head and she's back to poking around the house.]

Focus, Zohra!

[hammy]

Focus on what? You're the one investigating my house right now.

[intendance]

True enough.

[...hmm...]

You live in this great big house all by yourself?

[hammy]

Yeah. Used to have a few servants, but since I'm a failure now, they've been reassigned to someone else, and the Hidden Elites aren't trusted enough to live together under the same roof. The nobles probably figure that we'd end up killing one another or something.

[intendance]

Huh. I guess that makes sense.

Oh well, that works then.

[For her own ~decorating plans~]

I doubt it'll be too hard to keep this place clean.

[hammy]

Probably not. Well, it gets kind of dusty, so here's hoping you don't have allergies, huh? In any case, you're free to clean it up if you want. Be my guest!

[intendance]

Hmm...I'm not a huge fan of cleaning, but I suppose we'll see.

[S h r u g]

It'd be nice to stay in one place for a bit instead of moving around a bunch.

[hammy]

Feel free to consider it yours too, then. It's way too big for one person to live in anyway, especially at this age, right?

[...]

Though if you'll really be coming with me, be prepared to 'move around a bunch' again sometime. I'll be trying to confirm Pia's location before we leave, but the fact remains that she could be anywhere across the continent.

[intendance]

[...a-aw. Regardless of his laidback and easy way of saying it, Zohra is still extending and giving a home to Morgan, and it doesn't go unnoticed. She smiles a little quieter, nodding quietly.]

Thanks. You know what they say anyway--home is where the heart is!

[And she's accepting this at home, so it seems that as long as she's here, the heart is wherever Zohra is.]

[hammy]

[a scoff]

In that case, home for you is wherever someone would feed you, and my home is wherever Pia is—wouldn't that be the case?

[intendance]

[She giggles at that, nodding brightly.]

That's right! So when you find Pia, you'll have found your home!

[And she...will figure something out! No big deal, she's used to uncertain futures quite a bit. It's not enough to put a damper on her mood, at least. She's even willing to agree with the food thing at least.]

[hammy]

Heh... that's the only home I'll accept. To be honest, I wouldn't have even kept this place, except I obviously still need a place to live...

[intendance]

A temporary home isn't bad in the meantime. Especially knowing that you'll find your permanent home eventually.

[Which must be really, really nice.

Even if she can get home...there's always the fact that her father will have another child--have her--and then what will she do?

Something. Something that she'll figure out in the future. All is well.]

[hammy]

[He shrugs, and with perfect nonchalance—]

Maybe. Once I leave this country, I'll become a Taboo Breaker, remember? I'll become a hunted criminal. And when I met Pia three years ago, she was travelling the world. She didn't have a permanent home of any kind either.

[a pause]

Well, that's how it is for fugitives. You can't really stay anywhere for too long. But it's a better sense of freedom than staying in a place like Roland, at least.

[intendance]

Well...I suppose you can either be on the run with Pia or find somewhere safe to settle, or change things...

[She's tapping her chin thoughtfully at that.]

You two would probably be better off in my world than here, but unfortunately, I have no idea how to get there. Oh well!

[hammy]

[And meanwhile Peria's existence is completely ignored—]

Yeaaaah, that's a pretty major obstacle right now. Ah, well, we'll definitely figure it out, since we have to send you back eventually... Anyway, as bad as things are in this world, it's still my world, you know? I'd rather change things than just take the easy way out and leave it.

[intendance]

[PRETTY MUCH Morgan doesn't even remember his name.]

True enough. I didn't think you'd really come along anyway.

[Since Zohra and Pia. Though he does give some confusing mixed signals about whether or not he wants to change things for real.

Regardless--]

That's probably for the better regardless!

[hammy]

[Zohra probably didn't even mention it—]

Yeah... Well, we'll find a way to send you back home, either way.

[There's a pause, before a figurative lightbulb goes over his head.]

Ah! Ah! That reminds me!

[intendance]

[...probably not.

But she blinks, tilting her head.]

Eh? What is it?

[hammy]

... You wanted to see other countries' magic, right?

[intendance]

[...k-kyaaaaa--]

Yes, absolutely! You think I'll get the chance, if I go with you?

[hammy]

Well, we're gonna be travelling the world sooner or later, aren't we? People won't be firing magic at random, but we're bound to see a spell in action eventually, even if we have to provoke it ourselves, right?

[intendance]

[...sounds like a good plan to her.]

Of course! I'll learn these spells if it's the last thing I do here. I'm so excited now! You have to hurry up and find Pia, okay?

[hammy]

Yeah, yeah. Though hmm... actually learning's gonna take more than just that. We'll have to find someone who'll be willing to teach you, and the only kind of people who'd do that are traitors or fugitives.

[a shrug]

Well, as fellow fugitives, we might run into someone one day, so we'll deal with that when the time comes. Though if you really wanna learn foreign magic, you'd better be expecting to stay here for years. Even if we find a teacher, don't think it's the same as learning Roland's magic, since other countries have completely different structures and mechanisms. I mean, Estabul has their strings of letters, Runa has their spheres of light... nothing like Roland's magic circles at all.

[He laughs.]

It's why countries make such a fuss about not letting the secrets of their magic spread, you know? Like I told Noire back in Haven, I'd be executed just for teaching you, but hey, I've probably committed worse crimes as far as Roland's concerned.

[stay with him for six years though and it all works out—]