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[daemonized]

ARDYN IZUNIA

Ardyn Izunia. Professor of law. Lord of law. Liege of law. The one grading your papers. Leave a message.

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Comments

[daemonized]

"Interesting is one way to put it," he said, purposefully vague. His relationship with Pitou, though not nearly as strained as before, had always been something like walking on eggshells. They were much like the cat they appeared to be; huffy and hissy and fickle, at times.

He smiles at the sight of the cats, but will leave Ruby in the carrier for now. Some time for all the felines to get used to each other while they talk will not go amiss.

"It was unbearably hot in that place. I have no pressing need to return, not just yet. A change of scenery, instead, would be welcome."

Such as finally being back in the city.

[standalonehuman]

"Pesgare was beautiful," Togusa stands and walks away from the cats, okay, let them work it out among themselves. "It's like a trading port and fishing village. The whole pace of the town is slower. But they have a different currency there," Togusa laughs. "We had to literally work off our night's stay at the inn, before we could do anything else, oops."

The smile stays, but the Togusa pauses, thinking. "But the part Pitou helped the most with. There was someone who was trying to buy out the town. He's in custody there, now, but it's another sign pointing to something I've been considering for a while."

He scratches the back of his head nervously. "That is, if you're up for another round of paranoid conspiracy theories, I can give it a rest if it's not welcome."

[daemonized]

Hearing about Pesgare was enough to spark his curiosity, even if he had grown tired from his own exploits. It sounded far more... pleasant, at least, than the heat of Respartum, radiating into one's clothing, one's very bones.

"From you? Always. Tell me what that mind of yours has come up with."

[standalonehuman]

There's a particular smile that comes to Togusa's face whenever he gets encouraged by Ardyn, that reflex from back when he was a student that never goes away. If Ardyn thinks it's important enough to spend time on, he must be on to something.

"There has to be a third faction, other than us and Retrospec, that knows about this area and what's happening here. That's the short version."

He takes a seat so he can use his hands to gesture better. "The attempted buy-out was all an act, Pitou found out that what the man was actually after was some source of magic near Pesgare. Something we didn't have the resources to locate ourselves. But he kept referring to 'the four original areas.' So, not only is there more going on here, it's something that another group knows about. It would also explain who was behind the sudden kidnappings that almost dragged me back here instead of staying on mission."

[daemonized]

He nodded, for all the Togusa said did not stray from logical deduction. Though the implications were just as confusing as they were disconcerting.

"And what do you think the motivations of this third group might be?"

[standalonehuman]

"And there's the problem," Togusa gestures. "Hard to know for sure. Taking control of the world-regaining process? If it's true that us remembering the lives of these lost souls will help rebuild their worlds? Then I can imagine that if you interfere with the process, you might be able to exert your own will on those new worlds. Change what they're becoming."

"It might not even be that, but that's the worse case scenario I could come up with," Togusa has to admit.

[daemonized]

Troublesome, to say the least. And worrying, too, though Ardyn did realize it was just conjecture based off of what observation they had indulged in so far.

"That sounds rather villainous, doesn't it? Exerting one's power over new worlds, and using us as-- what? A resource in order to make it possible?"

He sighed.

"Is there a best-case scenario in all this?"

[standalonehuman]

Togusa's hands spread out to the sides. "That it's a branch-off of Retrospec, themselves, and someone who wants to make the same thing happen, a hands-off restoration of the worlds, but just disagrees with Retrospec's current leadership?"

"I'd call somebody who just wants to slap Jim and take over a best-case scenario." Togusa nods emphatically. He realizes that it's wishful thinking, but Ardyn is good at drawing him back from spiraling into full paranoia. Sometimes simpler explanations are more truthful.

[daemonized]

Ardyn's lips quirk into a small smile, vaguely amused at the idea of someone slapping Jim. Such a mental image will never grow old, no matter how long Retrospec remains a part of their lives.

"That would be more comforting than the alternative, but then one might wonder exactly why someone might disagree with the current leadership. Though slapping Jim? I'd at least wish to be there to see that."