Gogonji grumbled silently to himself as his Chocobo left the crystal-laden wastes of Mor Dhona and returned to the frigid grip of Coerthas, the white bird's talons crunching on the equally white snow under her feet. In his mind, he replayed the events leading to and surrounding the pilgrimage he had attended that sun. He had commissioned another Rouser for the Ampadoran Soul Crystal he had acquired in his last venture out from the Highlands, after spending many suns more manipulating the market to fund the acquisition of its component parts. Of course, on arrival, they sprung a "price increase" on him. With this being the - what, fourth, fifth? - of these things he had asked of them, they had gotten cocky with the exclusive deal he had with them.
The fools had tried to obfuscate things with him. They couldn't cite price of materials since the Lalafell provided those himself, so they fell back on labor costs and the increased value of their personnel. Something to do with the Magitek knockoffs they were providing for the adventuring populous. So what extra gil he had made in his wheeling and dealings ended up snatched away along with the rest. A potentially filling meal at the cafe recently opened above Rowena's workshop was lost, and Gogonji was left with little more than ire and bile to fill his belly.
And that's when he had stumbled across them: a crowd making their way just outside the gates of the Toll. More than eager to try to shunt the cutthroat practices of the Ironworks from his mind, the Dunesfolk had gone to investigate. What he had found was a rather pedestrian celebratory effort for one of the few of the Twelve he could possibly put stock into - Thaliak, the Scholar. Of course, it was hard for one to believe in any sort of protective deity figure when these supposed "Gods" so readily allowed his family and home to be put to the torch. He had been of mind to just press on through and return home, but he had gotten... sidetracked.
Perhaps it was his innate curiosity or his interest of the search for knowledge in general, but the green-haired Lalafell found himself embedded with the rest of the rabble as they made their way through the murky Tangle and up the crystalline path to the Rathefrost. All along the way, he was subjected to the ramblings of the masses and the shouted platitudes of the bell-ringer. While the truisms were just that - things that seemed evident enough to Gogonji - he had been expecting something more intellectual or profound. His grumblings to such were met with dismissal by his "peers" - and more than one openly pointed out that he could leave if he so desired.
On the one hand, the eldest of the Gegenji children was tempted to leave before his already low expectations were shattered. On the other, he didn't want to give the fools the satisfaction of "driving him off." And so Gogonji remained among them as they approached the great crystalline tree that sprouted from the cliff, and the stone that so openly displayed the symbol of the Scholar. It was the latter that drew his attention, and he had spent a long moment observing it before the crowd settled down and the celebration began...
And what a slipshod thing it was. Even dismissing the meandering marriage proposal that would've been a better fit for a pilgrimage for Menphina, there had been very little actually intellectual presentations. A children's fable, another tale whose track was left to the devices of the loudest of the crowd, and even a completely nonsensical musical piece involving laughable pantomime and Moogles. Perhaps the only thing worse about it was the pair of songs that touched his heart a little too deeply than he preferred - a song done in honor of a lost friend and a trio-told tale of battle-worn heroes returning home.
Gogonji looked over his shoulder to the saddlebag strapped tight to his white-feathered ride. Within it was a book that he had procured at the celebration's completion - Valley of the Mammets or some-such. Obviously not a highly technical read from his glance over the first couple pages. Though, it might not be so bad to relax with a book that wasn't about war-torn battlefields, lost civilizations, or a technical breakdown of Allegan and Garlean technologies. Perhaps in front of the fire with a pot of tea, freshly brewed by Ezra...
No, there's no time for that, the eldest Gegenji child corrected himself silently as he shook his head and returned his violet gaze to the road ahead. As childish as it was, he had imitated the titular character in the last tale presented to the crowd and made a prayer before Thaliak's stone. To provide him with the knowledge and wisdom needed to seek revenge for his family and his home. He had no time to waste on idly pleasantries - there was too much ready to be set into motion to be undone by dalliance. He had said as much to that obnoxious pink-haired girl.
She had at first decried his lack of faith in the Twelve, fearing "curses" of all things. Then she had made inane shouts over the rest of the crowd during the story - to rob the old man, to burn down the shack the character came across. And yet, she had also approached him as he stared out at the wreckage of the Agrias and the corpse of Midgardsormr entwined around it. She brought him blessings from the leader of the celebration, the blessings of Thaliak. She spoke with him with a childish frankness and openness that reminded too much of Chachanji.
Yes, Chachanji would've liked her - he had told her as much. Both were childish dunces filled with too much energy for their own good and got caught up far too easily in fairy tales. Gogonji found his thin lips curling upward in a smile despite himself as he recalled how reverently his younger brother would listen to the yarns he'd spin. He too would pipe up with the oddest suggestions when polled for where to go next in the story. Maybe that was why the pink-haired Lalafell bothered him so much, not to mention all her talk of her "young hero" boyfriend.
Still, he found himself realizing as Annelace trudged up the rocky path towards his shack, the outing had not been all that bad. Pedestrian and rather low-brow, yes, but there had been a simple entertainment to it. It had been... nice... to talk and match wits with the attendees. They took his dour disposition and his grumbling in stride, had not minded his presence among them. The pink-haired one had even wished him luck in his ventures... provided no one she knew got hurt by them.
Perhaps... perhaps he could alter the plan some. After all, that ragtag bunch he had delved the Amporan ruins hadn't been so bad to be around either. Hells, the Highlander was even now traveling back to Little Ala Migho at his own offering to hunt down information on the fading Monk arts for the Lalafell. Maybe he wouldn't have to go to such extremes to create the opening needed to strike a the heart of the Garlean hydra. He could go over the formulas again, calculate a different plan of attack...
Gogonji was still musing such things as he approached the door, saddlebag slung over his shoulder. His sharp eyes caught the discrepancy almost immediately - the door had been forced open, and violently so. The saddlebag's strap slipped from his grasp, leaving the now-forgotten sack to crunch quietly into the snow. In its place was the Lalafell's tome, which he flipped open with practiced ease with one hand as the other slowly pushed the door open. It creaked, far too loudly for his ears, and spilled the fading light from the outside into the murky depths within.
It was disturbingly peaceful within. All the books still on their shelves and all shelves in their proper places, no sign of someone tearing through in search of something. Of course, that only tightened the phantom grip on the Lalafell's heart - that meant they knew exactly what they were here for. And there was only a handful of folk who knew where the shack was and what lay within, for he had kept the place secret. Secret up until...
Gogonji's expression darkened. So who was it, then? Erwin, back early from his "goodwill" trip - if he had even left at all? The forever-failing Pa'Nito seeking to make another grab at power, this time using the Lalafell's hard work and brilliance? Or, perhaps...
The Awakener was active, he could hear the telltale hum of the machine even before he rounded the corner into the main room. A guttering, dying flame lit the fireplace, what few logs had been tossed in for light all but consumed by this point - meaning the figure hunched over the Awakener had been here for some time; perhaps having broken in not long after he had left for Mor Dhona. The Titan Egi that had procured the forceful entry hovered protectively at his master's flank, while the Elezen herself sat entranced in front of Gogonji's prototype, fingers splayed across its central casing. The stone within was not that of the Summoner, however, but of a different art. Its symbol marked both the defeat of a certain enemy, and the gaining of the beast's power to turn against its kin - the Dragoon.
"Adienna," Gogonji hissed, his fingers already resting on the set of runes he was all but certain he'd need. The lady Elezen's gaze snapped to him - eyes wide and expression ragged. Had she spent the whole time attuning to the Dragoon stone? And what had she seen? Was it just an influx of knowledge, or did she possess the spark needed to tap fully into the soul?
"Tmesis...!" she rasped in return, making the Lalafell at least a little grateful he had possessed enough wherewithal to withhold his true name from these backstabbers. Her long fingers remained firmly pressed against the central casing of the Awakener, as if she was afraid of the knowledge within would slip away from her the moment she let go. Which was certainly true, and even more evidence that she had been tampering with it for quite some time now. "Stay away, you can't take this from me! ... Titan!"
The Egi burst into motion, launching at the Lalafell with a rocky fist. It was only barely that Gogonji managed to stumble behind a bookcase as the earthen summon sundered the floorboards with a sickening crack. The force of the impact knocked the Dunesfolk off his feet and he crashed into both the floor and bookcase, a wheeling hand smacking painfully into one of the shelves and rewarding him with little more than a few books tumbling down about him. He had no time to deal with the sharp pains, though, as Adienna's tiny bouncer moved to engage him again.
"The knowledge here, it could change the war, Oan! Thousands upon thousands of Dragoons, with cycles upon cycles of knowledge engraved in their minds!" Adienna barked, perhaps trying to convince herself of the reasoning behind her treachery as much as to the eldest Gegenji child. "Do you know what you've been hiding here in this deplorable little shack of yours!?"
Gogonji only barely heard her words, since her Egi was a much more pressing threat. The first attack had been a surprise, but the beast itself was still quite dangerous even without such an advantage. He was too slow, only barely escaping the heavy strikes due to his home turf advantage. Turf that was currently being torn apart piece by piece under rocky fists. He needed his own advantage, and he needed it fast.
"We could finally drive back that Twelves-be-damned Horde once and for all!" the Elezen continued, her gaze returning lovingly to the Awakener and the Crystal within it. "We... I... I'd be a hero! My House's name would be elevated to the highest echelons of society!"
A flick of the switch up a sleeve and the Ninja Crystal flickered to life, filling the Lalafell's mind with the evasive and deadly tactics of his homeland. Coupled with his already-active Scholar Crystal, the two souls seemed to entwine and speak amongst each other, devising a plan to remove this assailant and her earthen bodyguard. It all flooded into Gogonji's hate-addled mind, goading him into what had to be done. A voice cried out in the back of it, a familiar voice he had heard plenty enough from this sun... but it was ignored. When the Egi came around the corner to continue its assault, its quarry was gone.
"You wouldn't understand!" Adienna was caught in her own little tirade now, the irony lost on the Lalafell in the swirl of ancient knowledge and present anger. "To be chided and hated due to a mistake your fool of a grandfather made in cycles past! This could solve everything! EVERYTHING!"
A well-aimed writing quill caught her in the webbing between index and middle finger, finally forcing the Elezen to withdraw that hand from the machine. She shook her hand sharply to try and dislodge the implement as blood began to seep out around it, but it was stuck fast. Still unwilling to fully break contact with the device, however, Adienna instead recalled the Egi to her side to both remove the offending quill and bodily protect her from her unseen assailant.
That was all the time Gogonji needed, however. With both her and her elemental distracted, she was wide open for attack. Another quill whistled through the air, this time catching the Elezen in her elegant neck. There was too much muscle there for it to bite too deeply, but it was only a closing maneuver. Trailing behind the writing implement was the Lalafell himself, battered training sword held in his grip like a katana. As the quill struck her neck, the blade sunk into her side.
"Family!?" Gogonji snapped even as he forced the blade in deeper. "Don't you dare speak to me of family! You haven't the faintest inkling of what you speak! This machine has a much greater purpose than your foolish climb up the ladder! You have no right to touch it!"
As if to emphasize his point, he yanked the blade free from its fleshy scabbard, ignoring the blood that poured so freely from the open wound. Raising the weapon over his head, the Lalafell next attacked her hand, the cheap blade biting down to the bone of her forearm before lodging fast. It was enough, though, to finally get Adienna to finally relinquish her hold on the Awakener. A forceful kick sent her stumbling to the floor, bashing her shoulder against her own Egi as it moved to protect her from the sudden assault. One hand clutching the injured arm, she curled up protectively.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she wailed, all arrogance and pride gone from her voice now. "Forgive me! I... I didn't mean it!"
"Of course you did," Gogonji intoned darkly in an unsettlingly even tone, whirling past her guardian with a Ninja's agility to lay hands on his blade once more. "You... Eorzeans only care for your own little nations. The only time you care about anyone else is when they can help you. What happens anywhere else doesn't matter if it doesn't affect you."
He quickly sidestepped another rocky punch, the fist coming dangerously close to its master's prone form. With a sharp yank, Gogonji ripped the blade free from the Elezen's arm - eliciting another primal yowl of pain. He was unphased, even as a voice screamed at him from within his mind. A small green-haired child hammering against the wall of anger he had erected around himself with tiny fists, crying out for his older brother to stop. Stop before it was too late.
"I'll change that, though," the Dunesfolk snarled, spinning the blade around in his grasp. "I'll bring them to your doorstep. All of you. And you can all burn as my home did. And you will all either aid me in casting down the Garlean Empire..."
Gogonji thrust the blade into her exposed neck. The Titan Egi that had been rushing in for another attack lost cohesion and splintered into a mess of dirt and stone that crashed into the Lalafell. One stone caught him squarely in the temple, sending a rivulet of blood down the side of the his face. The glowering Doman didn't seem to notice. He simply twisted the blade vindictively.
"... Or die in the process."
~