The Chocobo Diaries (Semi-Open)

[111]

(Semi Open, if you are interested in any of Eva's travels and would like to get involved, PM me. New RPers or people I haven't RP'd with before especially!)

 

Evangeline lays the crisp letter on Mikh'as crowded desk.

 

It looked out of place among the scattered gears, crystals and strange metals. The leader of the Dauntless had always struck her as a strange sort of engineer, always hopping from project to project. Deciphering an allagan artifact one day, braving the depths of a Nymian ruin. As if there was not simply enough time to waste on any one activity.

 

It was a lesson she might have learned. 

 

She had spent well over a year in Ul'dah and the southern cities, and for what? A year of bashing herself against the wall of people's ignorance and fear. It had begun to dawn on her that perhaps the people of Ul'dah would never see how they were exploited, or at least, not in her lifetime.

 

What to do then? Well... she did not know, but she did know that the answer would not be found staying still. After all, if so she would have found it already. 

 

Probably.

 

In any case she had made a decision. Hopefully her fearless leader did not take it too hard.

 

--------------------------

 

Dear Fearless Leader,

 

I am writing to inform you that I will soon set off on a trip. I have not yet planned where I am going or when I shall return, if at all. Thank you for all the warmth you and your organization have shown me, I hope someday to repay it. Please tell the others for me.

 

- Evangeline Lumiere Primrose

Empress of Garlemald

 

 

With a small click her linkpearl joins the note on the table, and Evangeline hefts her satchel before hurrying out of the room.

[111]

There was a breeze on her neck.

 

 

She’d forgotten what that felt like.

 

 

It was a shock, seeing the plaits of raven hair coating the sink, realizing that they realizing they were hers. Her hair had been long for so long that losing it felt as alien as removing a finger, leaving her head light and cool in the morning chill. Looking up, she almost didn’t recognize the face that stared back at her. She looked different.

 

 

Older, perhaps. Or at least not the same as the girl who had fled Ishgard years ago.

 

 

Cutting the hair had been a practical decision. Long hair was impractical for a life on the road, there would be no way to maintain her customary locks. Still though.

 

Something about it pleases her, and the Elezen in the mirror smiles.

[111]

This one was harder.

 

She fingers the letter, skin sliding over fine vellum as her resolve wavers for a moment. More than anyone, Xel’enfer had given her the resolve to leave, and yet, he was the one she least wished to hurt.

 

He had been the first one able to overcome her stubbornness, to force her to see the world in something like logic. That her crusade in Ul’dah would not succeed as things stood. It had been a hard pill to swallow, one that had left her aimless for weeks.

 

What was a revolutionary without a revolution, after all.

 

Evangeline did not like the idea of bowing to the realities of the world, yet bashing her head against an impossible task seemed even less desirable. So if this revolution did not work… she’d find another.

 

Somewhere out there in the world there must be injustices to overcome, wrongs she could right. Tyrants to crush, people to inspire. She smiles, her confidence returning and as places the crisp letter on the desk of Xel’enfer’s study.

 

 

 

Master Xel’enfer,

 

I am leaving for a journey. I assume your first act upon reading this will be to enlist all matter of dark servants to drag me back home. However despite that, I insist upon two things.

 

I am a very hard woman to find when I do not wish to be.

 

If you attempt to do so, whatever anger you might feel will pale in comparison to my own.

 

I know I am not a very good servant to write such, but we both know a collar fit poorly upon my neck. Perhaps that is why we enjoyed each other so. I promise we will meet again, but I must clear my head. There is so much of Eorzea to still see and experience, and so much of myself to still discover.

 

Stay safe Xel.

 

Your Disobedient Servant,

- Evangeline

 

 

 

Evangeline blushes and places a trio of silver rings, accented with Amethysts alongside the letter, before walking off.

[111]

"Mr Puggles, will you please stand still!" Evangeline snaps at the chocobo, trying to sketch out it's outline in black ink. Ishgard had bred the birds for hundreds of years, and still they would not... Obey.

 

Oh dear, thought Evangeline.

 

Oh dear indeed. 

 

She had spent the last several years fighting tyranny and oppression, being the voice of the masses (even when they didn't want one), and yet, had she been a tyrant all along. Mr Puggles was her faithful chocobo... but had he ever truly been given a choice?

 

The Elezen stands and walks over the chocobo, feeling a sinking guilt within her. It was far past time to make this right, she could walk over Eorzea if she had to, it would not do to travel on the back of a slave. 

 

"Mr Puggles." She says solemnly, staring into the bird's black gem-like eyes, "Forgive me for the injustice I have done you." 

 

"Kweh." Replies Mr Puggles, his ashy grey feathers swaying.

 

Evangeline bites her lip at his harsh response, "I only now noticed the wrong I was committing, I did not see how wrong it was to bridle you so."

 

"Kweh." 

 

"Mr Puggles..." Evangeline sinks to her knees, "You are right, truly... all you say. I am ashamed."

 

"Kweh." 

 

She raises her head, "Truly...? you might forgive me?" 

 

"Kweh." Mr Puggles wanders over to nibble on a nearby leafy plant. 

 

Tears are brimming at Evangeline's eyes, "I will not let you down, Comrade, together we will liberate both your kind and mine. I swear it." 

 

"Kweh." Comrade Puggles finishes devouring the bush and stretches. 

 

"Stay there Comrade! Allow me to finish your sketch!"

 

 

"Kweh."

 

 

(My work got me a surface pro, prepare for bad eva drawings.)

[111]

It was strange, watching it from a distance like this. 

 

As much as she hated the Syndicate, the Sultana, and the bloody business of commerce, the Jewel of the desert never failed to take her breath away. She sketched as the lavender fingers of sunrise crept over the rocky hills, silhouetting the city in a cloud of soft light. Here and there were small winks of light within the domes, a noble's window, a streetlamp, an airship beacon.

 

Evangeline had a grudging respect for the place, and even the cruel logic it ran by. There was nothing wrong with respecting one's enemy, was there? 

 

Still, she had felt at home in the city, more so than she ever had in Ishgard. It was a place as chaotic and bustling as she was. A city where one could be rich as a prince one day, and lower than a begger the next. Fortunes and futures were traded under it's sun dappled alleys, and those of every race and origin crowded into its halls. 

 

Evangeline shakes off the small watercolor brush, standing as she lets her sketch dry. "You may have won this round." She smiles wrly and bows to the city. "But I will defeat you yet." 

 

Then Evangeline takes her feet and heads down the small hill, away from home. 

 

(I'm horrible at drawing and worse at watercolors, but I couldn't capture the sunrise in b/w.)

 

[111]

This trip wasn't going to plan at all.

 

Evangeline nurses her drink, a halo of condensation beading on the glass and sliding onto the dark wood of the bar. Not only had her attempts to overthrow worship of the twelve in Ishgard failed, she'd run into the only person there whole could keep her to a promise.

 

Ser Martiallais had found her mid speech, making a personal request that she halt. Grudgingly Evangeline relented, she had fought alongside the man more than once, and she had respect for him, despite his role. She had even promised not to give any more speeches until she left the city. 

 

Rather annoying that.

 

Still, the conversation and wine had made up for it. Ser Mar was a mystery despite their many talks. Some days she felt him ready to run the priests and inquisitors through, and ride off with her. Others he seemed every inch the stony knight of Ishgard, willing to slay her if she strayed too far. 

 

Evangeline sighs, people were so complicated, weren't they? Why couldn't they just listen to her, and assist her in overthrowing governments? Perhaps she'd figure it out someday.

 

Leaving a few coins on the counter Evangeline steps away, giving a stretch before the fire. It wasn't all bad, she mused. She had Mar's lover to meet at some point in the future, and unless the Knight fared very poorly in such things, the woman was likely a beauty indeed. 

 

She hums happily and heads out the doors, looking forward to that event.