[Video]

[songbird_slayer]

...Excellent! My Lady, it's ready!

[The interior of a sparsely-decorated room flickers to life over the feed, and it's immediately apparent that the room belonged to one of the newcomers pulled fresh from the Dream Width, and someone is playing some sort of music. But as someone hoists up the slate and swings it to the right, the figure seated in the chair is currently occupied.

Ring-covered fingers are strumming the strings of something guitar-like, and the figure is rather lost in it, singing nothing in particular. This goes on for about ten seconds.]

Ahem... Lady Madhuri?

[The figure sits up a little taller with a start, eyes fluttering open. The music resumed as she continued to strum, but the smile was sheepish as her eyes turned to the screen.]

Oh. Oh! Yes, thank you. I'm sorry, my instruments seem to have been left behind in the last jump. Makes a bard's fingers itchy. This loaner suits me nicely until I pay this world's bard college a visit.

[With a flourish, she raised a hand and wiggled her fingers in greeting.]

Good afternoon. I am Madhuri, a bard and a dancer by trade. I found myself curious, so I had to cut the ribbon on this little network as it were and pose a question:

Where are you from? What's your tale? ...Of what you're comfortable sharing, of course. Perhaps this can grant the opportunity to build a little bit of a... a... ohh, what's the word- rapport! Yes. A rapport.

Tell me tales of adventure, of victories and defeats, of loves won and loves lost! Perhaps I'll create a song out of a few, and it will be a little gift. Free, of course. Unless of course you're willing to tip.

[She pulled her feathered cap from atop her head and gave it a tip.]

That's all from me. Enjoy your day. For those of you still panicking about your situation? Breathe, dear. In and out. It'll be alright. Find friends and hold them dear.

Bye-bye~

Comments

[ancientlute]

Oh, that was wonderful! Did you play string instruments back home, or something else? I do hope you can find something to your liking with the bards.

[ A brief pause, and then she actually remembers to listen to the rest of the message. ]

Oh! But you had a question. My name is Sarah, and I come from a country to the northeast of the center. My homeland excels in metalwork and technology, and I'm sure you shall find your way there if you ever mean to study in the use of mechanical weapons. I don't have much of a story of my own, I'm afraid, but I came to the center so I might play a part in the stories of you newcomers.

[mech_and_mutt]

Haha! You got into this real quick, huh?

[It wasn't that his words seemed insincere; it was merely a little curious how he was speaking from well out of frame, the camera focused on a croissant and a small, frothy cup of what appeared to some kind of coffee... thing.]

Think I toldja mine already, didn't I? Ridin' a robot, savin' the world, that kinda thing?

[The drink was lifted by a gloved hand as a quiet slurp seemed to hit the microphone...]

[voice]

[garyoutensei]

-Despite how soothing the playing had been, Baiken couldn't set aside something that was bothering her...-

The hell happened to your face? -It was gruff, but more noticeably, there was distrust there. As if nothing the woman had actually said mattered because of it.-

[Video] (he rambles I'm sorry)

[zanarkandian]

[Here's a contemplative-looking Tidus. He doesn't answer right away, he's taken a few moments to consider the message, but he clicks the button when he's ready.]

Of course I'd tip! If you feel like it, that is, no pressure. I hope you don't mind if this is a little long. I've been told I need to condense it.

I used to have a dream life. I was a star blitzball player, everything taken care of, in an amazing city that never slept. Sure, I hated my old man for disappearing on us, and my guardian was a total stick in the mud, but all in all, life was pretty good.

Then this giant floating creature called Sin invaded and destroyed the city, sucking me up and dropping me in another world called Spira. It was cold, uncomfortable, and they didn't have any good food! All I wanted was to go home.

But it all started to change when I met a girl, Yuna. The first time I saw her, I knew she was special. She was caring, kind, willing to believe my crazy stories...and she was beautiful too.

Then I learned that she was a summoner, someone who learned to summon aeons and use their power to beat Sin. Sin had been attacking Spira for a thousand years, destroying cities whenever they got too big. Summoners and their guardians went on pilgrimages to get stronger and defeat Sin, but it always came back after a little while.

It got really weird when I learned that my dad, the one who'd disappeared? He'd come to Spira before me and become Sin, somehow. He was frozen in that giant thing flying around killing people, and Yuna was going to have to stop him. So I joined Yuna and her friends as another guardian, just trying to figure out what was going on.

And...eventually, I fell in love with her. She showed me another way to live: that peace was worth fighting for, that everyone deserved a chance at a good life even if they'd been cruel to us. No one deserved the constant fear of death that Sin brought.

Then I learned that finishing the pilgrimage and beating Sin the old way would kill her, and it broke my heart. At that point, I'd given up on going home---she was all that mattered to me. So I swore I'd find another way to defeat Sin. Yuna deserved to see the peace she'd journeyed for, and eventually I had my answer.

It turned out that Sin always came back because it was powered by an ancient summoner, and he was the one who'd corrupted my dad, and what he was summoning was the city I'd come from. That city and everyone in it, including me and Dad? We were all just dreams. We could kill the summoner at Sin's core and end that suffering forever, but it meant the summoning would end. It meant my life would end too.

But it had to be done. We led the charge, saved the world...and I disappeared. I don't regret making that choice. I just regret that I left everyone behind and made her cry.

( video )

[cidsgirl]

Wow. Heeey, you're pretty good!

( Rikku claps daintily. )

I'm Rikku! From a world called Spira, yadda yadda.... It's a long story, ( said without the same bubbly tone as her previous words. But she shakes that off fairly quickly. )

Back home, I was taking up singing lessons. Wanna hear? ( ...evidently, a rhetorical question. )

Na, na, na, dooo, la, la, la, la, daaa~

[conniemaheswaran]

The video feed shows a young girl sitting at a desk, thick, leatherbound books on human biology and magitek on either side and complex notes in indecipherable shorthand in front of her. "H-hey!" she says, waving. "So, um, Nanamo told me that one of my adventures back home would catch a, um, bard's eye. Or ear. Whatever. Would you be interested in hearing it?"

[uponjade]

Oh I love a good story. My life is rather boring so far. Studies and school and all of that fun stuff. The tale of the empire I come from however I far more interesting if you'd like to hear the tale.

[video]

[chefbayardee]

[ The video feed blips on, and Hunk is sitting on a couch, awkwardly shifting the slate to get the best angle. But then a faint bobbing motion grabs the frame, and- ]

Bal, just stand on the table.

[ He laughs, and the moogle lets out a dejected "kupo" before plopping on a firm surface. No more shifting and shaking. ]

Sorry about that! Wanna hear the story about how me and my friends successfully inspired a slave revolt?