Open Post - Not Quite Fun and Games

[gakunin]

(Note: Main prompts will lead to spoilers for post-Titan MSQ)

A: Sheer Dumb Luck

While wandering the upper decks of Limsa Lominsa, should you get lost or simply decide to explore, you'll find a young Auri ninja sitting in an out-of-the-way spot. It's nothing but a dead end. Little use to anyone, away from guilds, shops, or aetherytes. At first, it may seem she is simply leaning on the edge and admiring the view of the ocean, but on closer inspection, she's injured, a hand over her stomach and her face a paper-thin veneer of calm hiding pain. She looks up at the one approaching.

"Hello - are you lost? Want this view for yourself? I'll be moving along any time now, if you were looking for some time alone. I just need to rest a while."


B: Quest Objective

You seemed capable, and were approached by a Maelstrom officer. They told you they were looking for a member of the foreign levy who was supposed to be on bed rest but had stubbornly gone missing. Yet again. Your mission was to look for one Corporal Gakunin, and return her to safety, or report to someone who could carry her should you be unable to.

It is now that you've found her, and she looks up and sees the purpose in your eyes and stride. In a burst of smoke, she's suddenly behind you - and then she collapses to her knees at the first step, blood dripping from behind the metal plating on the front of her armor harness.

"Damn it...damn it, damn it, I can't stay here..."

She sounds nearly ready to cry.

C: Orders

Or, you are Maelstrom, and have found your errant corporal. Sayano offers a halfhearted salute and an even weaker smile before slumping against the edge of the platform, apparently having given up.

"I know you don't understand what happened. I know you don't understand why I must go..."

Wildcard: Anything Goes!

(Pick your own! Pre-Titan content for before all this gloom and pain, some nebulous moment in time, in Eorzea or somewhere else. It's okay to break the timeline by being someone she hasn't met yet too!)

Comments

B.

[forbyflame]

The soldier had asked her to seek the missing corporal, but she had no intentions to do so without first hearing their side of the story. Yet when she finally spied the query, and then have her vanish in a puff of smoke, she nearly jumped. No one had ever said just how injured she was, nor that she was a kunoichi.

She had heard the tales - even had a brother who traveled to the Far East in search of a tutor once he was old enough to wander the forests. Never in her wildest dreams did she believe she would meet one! Such idle thoughts could wait. For now, she had an injured party on her hands.

"Please, miss. Will you not at least allow me to tend to your wounds?"

[gakunin]

She looked over her shoulder, expression strained in exhaustion and pain. "I'd appreciate it. But... Healing spells alone won't knit this...not right away." She swallowed and grimaced as she struggled to her feet. She balanced well enough when she wasn't trying to run, at least, though that could be attributed to her training.

"So, you've got me. I can't exactly run away..."

[forbyflame]

Not healing spells alone... Then there is more than simply the physical injuries. Taking the struggling for a sign, she approached more gingerly, offering her hand to the Auri soldier before whispering a regeneration spell. She'd done well to keep her practice of the arts forbidden to all but the padjali, but this time... she'll make an exception.

"To more secure environs, then?" she asked, offering her shoulder until they reached the draught chocobo she'd befriended nearby. Menphina as her witness, she was not about to turn away when there was aught she could do.

[gakunin]

More like the physical injuries are too severe. Or it could be that Garlean spear had some awful magic-inhibiting concoction on it. All she knows is it will only heal her some, enough to prevent her from dying, but will not restore her fully. And moving around like this undoes it.

The flow of blood slows as the magic works as well as it can, and she hesitates before she leans on the other adventurer's shoulder.

"If you mean the inn I worked so hard to slip away from..."

It wasn't really all that hard. Who better than one trained by both rogues and ninjas to make a stealthy escape even while recovering from nearly-mortal wounds?