In Need of Rescuing [Open]

[Beaver Dude]

When the creature attacked, Dee didn’t panic. Calmly, methodically and efficiently he raised one hand to guard and the other to conjure fire while sweeping his profile sideways to reduce exposure to assault.

He was mildly impressed when the creature easily swatted aside his arm. He was rather less impressed when the fireball he had been preparing simply refused to materialize.

His subsequent panic wouldn’t go down in history as his most brilliant moment.

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Random Bystander A: “What is that noise?”

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Black Mages, Dee had once been told, sounded a lot like little human children. He had made an effort, being the representative of his little village, to not sound childlike. Unfortunately, given his voicebox, anything vaguely resembling the tenor register had simply refused to come out louder than a whisper and he had talked sotto voce to just about everyone that was taller than four feet.

(At least one person had mentioned that he sounded a lot like a Chocobo with emphysema. Dee might have unconsciously set that particular person’s underthings on fire and glared menacingly at just about everyone for the rest of that meeting.)

Freed from their usual constraint, Dee surprised even himself when he started screaming and from the expression of its beady little eyes the dark, chittering thing before him had been surprised as well. Or at least mildly inconvenienced because it hesitated even though it had a rather good shot at stabbing him through the chest with a rather vicious looking hand.

Dee didn’t stop to ask why it had paused and ran as fast and as far as his little booted feet could take him.

[prythian]

Prythian winced slightly at the sound of the scream. Someone to help, though; sounded like a little child had encountered a heartless. Dammit, didn't most people on this world know about the Heartless already and were cautious? He ran towards where he'd heard the scream; it wasn't very far. He threw off his red cloak, revealing the pure black skinsuit he wore with the yin-yang symbol on his chest.

A very, very small person ran into him, and he stumbled back, startled. "Don't run off. I'll take care of it." He said, noticing the lone Heartless. He stepped around them and held up his hand, the back of it facing outwards. "This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory!" The crest on the back of the hand began shining redly.

"Erupting Burning Finger!" He held forth the hand and a stream of fire shot forth, incinerating the Heartless.

[Beaver Dude]

Dee's hat had gotten in the way of his eyes. It was the only possible explanation (no, he had not been closing his eyes because he didn't want to see his imminent demise) for his sudden bump into another person and his subsequent lack of memory when it came to the how he was saved.

No, wait, he did remember something.

"This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar-"

It was, admittedly, the longest spell Dee had ever heard. It also sounded kind of embarrassing to say many times in quick succession (as opposed to the elegance of, for instance, fira). Dee wondered idly if his savior had lost a bet of some sort. He lifted the brim of his hat and noticed the tail end of the spell which involved fire.

Dee tasted something ashy at the back of his throat: not quite jealousy, not quite envy, not quite greed but a mix of those delightful things nonetheless. He blinked those emotions away.

"Th... Thank you."

[prythian]

"Not a problem." Prythian nodded. "You really, really should have a way to defend yourself against the Heartless, you know. There's almost no way to escape them completely; you'll run into them again very soon. I can take care of myself; running away won't always work for you though." He cocked his head. "I don't suppose you have any weapons or know any spells?" He asked this curiously.

[Beaver Dude]

Dee bristled. He was a black mage of course he knew spells! He was built to know spells! That he had access to only one part of the elemental trinity that governed the world didn't diminish in the slightest that he was built to be a war machine.

Had this person never seen a black mage before? Had he been hiding in some hole for the last...

With a snort Dee conjured Fire. The simplest spell, nothing more than a gander at pyrotechnics. Nothing happened. With something approaching true fear he cycled through the spells he knew and came up empty.

Then everything clicked together with the finality of a loaded gun.

"This... this isn't Gaia, is it?"

[prythian]

"This is the world of Traverse Town." Prythian replied. ". . ." He thought he knew exactly what had happened. He'd seen this type of confusion before in this very town. "...You've seen the Heartless before, haven't you." It was a statement. "On your world that you name Gaia. Tell me... was your world consumed by the darkness?" Prythian crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

[Beaver Dude]

Gaia... Heartless...

Dee looked through his memories and then jolted as if physically stung: there was a blank. No, there was more than a blank, something had been removed. The last he rembered... the last he remembered it had been his four hundredth funeral.

But just as things were visible through their presence, so were his memories visible through their absence. Something had happened. Time had passed. How much time? Was he reaching the limit of his operational capacity already? There, there had to be some hint or clue-

Dee pushed and prodded and then jolted for real as pain thrummed through his body, heady and paralyzing.

He only realized he had been shaking when he realized that his back was kissing the ground.

"I..." He blinked away the furious tears. "I don't remember."

[prythian]

Prythian sighed, shaking his head and sitting down in a cross-legged position. "Whether your world is gone or not... Odds are the Heartless came to it. You were removed from your world, whether under your own power or by stepping into a dark portal. This world... it gathers people set adrift amongst the worlds. It's usually where people end up once they leave their world. It was for me, at least."

He glanced sharply at Dee. "However, not remembering is slightly rarer. Most people remember, though there ARE some who suppress the memories because of how traumatic they are. Do you think this is the case with you?"

[Beaver Dude]

Dee gazed into the abyss and watched as he ministered funeral after funeral, grave after grave, child after child, death after death. Something more traumatic then even that shabby excuse of an existence...?

Laughable.

"If only it were so easy." The Black Mage whispered. "I would have forgotten everything."

A different world. Dee pondered this now that he had the time (he would look into his lack of memories later - whether spell or some sort of physical reaction, approaching that subject, even thinking about that subject appeared dangerous) and tried for form the thought:

"Maybe... maybe I chose to come here?"

[prythian]

"Perhaps you did. And if it wasn't the trauma... perhaps you also chose to forget." Prythian said, examining Dee. "I suppose you need to learn the truth yourself; there is only so far that others can help you. There are places that only others can help you reach. And there are places that only you can reach, no matter how others want to help you." He glanced up into the starry sky. "Somewhere out there is a place you'll find you belong, if it isn't here. Somewhere out there is a place for me, too, I suppose, though I may have already found it."

[Beaver Dude]

Belonging...

Dee shook his head clearing the cobwebs. While all of this was decidedly interesting and no doubt of great practical importance sometime soon in the future when he might contemplate returning home to Gaia there were other pressing concerns.

Such as survival. He hadn't been able to take on a single of those black... things (Heartless, did his savior- on that note who was this mysterious savior?) and while Black Mages didn't require terribly much nourishment they did need to eat. Contemplating the difference between tact, pride and prudence Dee did his mental additions and came up a bit short and decided to jettison tact altogether.

"Wait, who are you?"

Deciding that might have come off a smidgen rude he added, helpfully: "I'm Dev-... I'm Dee."

[prythian]

"You can call me Prythian, Dee." Prythian said, smiling. His messy black hair ruffled in a small breeze as he looked around. "You never did answer me if you knew any spells or had any weapons, you realize. If you do, but it didn't work because you are no longer where you were... perhaps I could help somehow? I have..." He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. "...a little experience in drawing energy from different sources. It might be a case of not knowing where to cast your senses for the magic."

[Beaver Dude]

There was something innately creepy about helpful people. They were... they were unnatural. Now Black Mages, being the innocent little darlings that they were, didn't have much time for the big bad world to corrupt them so their helpfulness was endearing. This tall human clearly-

Now that Dee thought about it, there wasn't much that a human could ask of him right now. He couldn't even cast Fira for Vivi's sake!

"Elemental Magic..." Dee said slowly, tapping himself on the chest over his heart, "was imbued inside of us- of me. No one else on my world could use it." He paused but then moved on gamely anyways: "I was... only ever able to use fire magicks."

[prythian]

Prythian frowned. Artificially created mages...? That world seemed very odd. "Well... if it is instinctive... then what you need to do is learn how to gather up the energy from around you. Try..." He paused, trying to find the right way to explain it. "...Try to reach out with your mind. If done properly, you should be able to sense magic on the ether of the world. Once you gather that energy, you should be able to use your magic again."

[Beaver Dude]

Dee experimented a few times, feeling decidedly foolish. There were laws governing magic, rules and regulations that Summoners bound to their contracts, that fighters bound to their bodies, and Black Mages bound to their elements. Feeling energy in the ether...?

Odd. But worth a shot. This wasn't his world.

Fira, Dee concentrated. Fira[/b].

He opened a hopeful eye. Nothing. Dee let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. The result had not exactly been unanticipated.

"I don't think I have this sensory organ you speak of, Prythian." Dee told him.