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SOMEWHERE IN GYR ABANIA... There she was again... who was she? She seemed so familiar, yet he could not ever remember what she fully looked like or why she was there. Regardless, he thought he could trust her. He felt safe, couldn't help but smile when she spoke. Did he look up to her? He certainly felt admiration--felt like he had an older sister despite being the only child... Who was she? The Miqo'te smiled down at him, sympathetic, encouraging. "You almost had it that time, Ragnald. You're only stumbling over the lines the censors-" she took a moment to breathe out whatever emotion she was experiencing, pressing her lips together to maintain a mostly neutral, placid expression, "asked us to change from the original script, anyway. The ones everyone knows by heart from childhood. It's... a stumbling block, sure, but nothing we're not nimble enough to leap over, yeah? Only a few little hiccups beyond that. I know you're feeling frustrated. I know you want to be perfect right away, and I know it all seems impossible sometimes, with everything else going on in our lives. But... don't give up so easily! If you care about this, and I know you do, then keep working at it, keep practicing. I know, boring, right? 'Teacher, you give the worst advice, your boring suggestions ARE what's frustrating me,'" she teased playfully, laughing. "It's difficult to care about something so much, isn't it? It hurts sometimes." She hoped her student couldn't see the pain in her own eyes as she spoke, seeing in him a hundred other children for whom she cared. The pain of losing their bright imaginations to the harsh cruelties of the world was so great, she wondered what she wouldn't do to stop that from happening. Was there an upper limit on what she would sacrifice? "It would be easier not to think about it at all, but... that's part of what makes us people. Our dreams, our hopes. The fact that we struggle and fail and keep on trying. I think... as long as we can hold on to even an onze of that, half an onze! We can always find our way back." She held out her hand, smiling warmly. "So, what do you say? The scene takes place on a roof? I say, let's go to the roof! Let's make our hard work as un-boring as possible." He smiled, clapping his cheeks to hype himself up before reaching his hand forward for hers, ready to get up... Yet the hand that grabbed back was not hers, the sweet voice of his teacher replaced with a tyrannical one: This face he saw clearly. The instructor's knee drove into the youth's stomach. The kid doubled over, kneeling before the instructor. "PATHETIC! ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC! I KNOW THE STANDARDS FOR SAVAGES ARE ALREADY LOW, BUT THIS?" the instructor sent his rifle's butt toward the youth, driving him further down as the kid wheezed out and in, rolling over to his back as he shook in pain. "AGAIN!" the instructor demanded. "L-LEGIO!" the boy screamed, the vision of the kind Miqo'te disappearing ever so slowly... "AETERNA!" The instructor kicked the youth, forcing him to roll yet again, giving him no mercy nor respite. "LOUDER!" the imperial barked. "VICTRIX!" "LEGIO! AETERNA! VICTRIX!" Ragnald woke up. The war whistle sounded as the artillery firing began, his legion charging onto the frontlines toward the Ala Mhigans and the Eorzean Alliance. Ragnald was not far behind. He frothed at the mouth, cursing and screaming at the "savages" as the youth rebuilt as a machine of war went to battle. "LEGIO!" His right hand, covered in Magitek plates, crashed into an Ala Mhigan's jaw. A sickening crunch was heard. "AETERNA!" His knee crashed into an Immortal Flame's head, a rock behind it used it as an anvil, the knee as a hammer as the head was popped like a grape. "VICTRIX!" His hand left rocketed toward to another Ala Mhigan, repeatedly bashing into her skull as he could no longer recognize his own countrymen. Yet, he was crying, stuck in an eternal nightmare, begging for someone to wake him up.... SOMEWHERE IN ALA MHIGO... The Ala Mhigan officer nodded, stamping down the paperwork before looking up to Sgt. Baxter. "Operation is approved. If we rescue that boy, it's a great win for our morale, good insight into their indoctrination, and more information of those like him. We failed our children once. We shalt not do so again. "Send them in. "Rescue that boy. Bring. Him. Home." The second half of Alyona Amariyo's Spotlight, a retrieval mission for the Imperial conscript Ragnald, will take place on Wednesday, January 27th at 8:00 PM EST on the Balmung server, hosted by Khuron Khan!

SOMEWHERE IN ALA MHIGO... "I don't feel good about this, Ser..." the Ala Mhigan officer stared at the paperwork awaiting the stamp of approval. He sighed as he looked over the contents of the request: an Imperial had an audacity to ask for a deal consisting of "singing like a canary" if given the right to have one dinner with a particular person and her friends. "Dealing with Imperials? Especially a nutcase like that one? Are you sure it's wise, Ser? It's hard enough to trust an Imperial whoreson to uphold a deal, even harder to trust one that just murdered his own," the officer continued as he remembered the recent troubling report; an Imperial infiltrator broke into the gaols, and judging by the pathways he left open and the discovered chocobos for two, they assumed he was there break their prisoner out. Instead, the infiltrator was, for reasons still unknown, incapacitated by the same person he tried to rescue, tortured, then eventually executed with the prisoner still in his cell, despite a clear pathway to freedom. Even stranger? Whereas the prisoner was once silent and refused to leak any info despite all the methods employed, he promised to talk as long they fulfilled his "request." "I don't like it either, son, but we have no choice," the superior responded, looking over the reports. "This monster was responsible for erasing anyone that even hinted being disloyal to the Empire in Ala Mhigo. He knows the fate of hundreds, and the family of those hundreds need to know peace. Not to mention, he can tell us valuable insights within their secret operations. If the price be just a dinner with his girl and friends? It's a small price compared to what I can think of..." The Ala Mhigan officer sighed before nodding. He stamped down the paperwork request, approving it. "We found out this 'Alyona' is in Gridinia. We'll reach out." The Ala Mhigan officer nodded once more before looking to a photo that the prisoner clutched so earnestly... He clicked his tongue, frowning as the pink haired Miqo'te looked way too familiar. It seemed that judging by the prisoner's fond attachment, they were both familiar with the person of interest. "Seven Hells, Mockingbird. Thought you were dead." On Wednesday, January 20th at 8:00 PM EST, Khuron Khan will be holding a character spotlight event on the Balmung server for Alyona Amariyo!

"Ul'dah, the Jewel of the Desert - a city that prides itself as the bastion of civilization in a swath of desert filled with dangers. Yet, many would say the biggest danger lies within the city itself, for the real monsters prowls inside the walls of the city, where ambition and greed regularly triumph over decency and hope. But mayhap there is still room for justice? A man has been murdered, a common occurrence in the city where backstabbing has become routine, yet his status as a well known actor will pull those uninvolved into the vile plot. The stage is set, the curtain is pulling- it's time for the play to begin." On Monday, January 25th at 8:00 PM EST, Khuron Khan will be hosting a murder mystery investigation styled RP event!