spira_rp | Will I find something in there to give me just what I need

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Will I find something in there to give me just what I need

There were advantages to having a reputation for being a brat.

For one thing, no one thought that Kadaj might be useful to whatever powerplaying machinations they had on the go. He wasn't important enough to be in anyone's way, and he wasn't significant enough to court. He was just there. Being a brat. He wasn't powerful enough for anyone to worry about him, or even give him much thought.

So when people approached Kadaj they were either really far up a particular infamous creek for allies, or they were just genuinely being nice. Or perhaps curious.

Kadaj wasn't one hundred percent on where the Lucians fell on that spectrum. The stuffy nerd had been working his ass off befriending everyone and anyone that crossed his path. He lived in the kitchen more than Nel, but unlike Nel, seemed to enjoy being there. The guy had missed his calling as a restaurant cook and somehow ended up being sent to make nice with the sort of dickheads Khamja attracted.

The big brawny one had concentrated on making an impression on the girls. Well, it was either effort or the fact he dressed like some lost leather daddy and constantly had his muscles out. He was affable once you got past the rough tough guy look, though. Kadaj kind of liked him.

He was still on the fence about the nerd.

So when Gladio had asked about seeing a summoning, Kadaj hadn't seen reason to refuse. Aeons weren't really a thing on Jylland. Tayuya had been pretty sure that there weren't any Fayths there, and without the War history it sort of figured.

It also gave Kadaj a bit of a chance to show off, and he wasn't about to turn that down.

The underground training facility was nicely deserted, and despite the sand the weather had been set to the 'probably the Calm Lands' setting, so the projected skies were clear, and the wind was low.

Tayuya twirled her flute between her fingers. They'd made sure to leave their audience far enough back that they wouldn't get covered in debris. "Ready?" he asked Tayuya, unsheathing Souba. Working with Even had improved his magical ability, and, not that he was ready to admit it, his tactical acumen, but you had to work with Aeons to improve your bond, just like you did a Zanpakuto.

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Tayuya dismissed Ifrit, and then followed Kadaj over to their audience. She didn't understand a word of what was being said between them, but she understood Kadaj's comment well enough.

"I'll pass," she said. She didn't want to go making any long trips to monster riddled places just to flex her Summoning muscles.

"What did you think?" she asked, looking at the two Lucians.

"Impressive," Gladio said, switching back to Ivalician. "Not something I could manage, but... damn."

The closest thing to Aeons on Eos were Remnants and they weren't anywhere near as easy to come by. They were bonded to one person at once and tended to be either city-sized monsters tethered to the mayor or president of any given city state, or weapon-types more comparable to Zanpakuto than Aeons. They used Chakra directly, as a power source, making many of them dangerous unless you were one of those with vast, vast reserves of it, and they were generally handed down through families as heirlooms or ancestral weapons.

Tayuya made a thoughtful noise and grinned at Gladio. "You could if you became a Summoner," she answered, mostly joking. "You'd get on well with Titan."

Titan was also a big buff dude that didn't wear all his clothes and favoured Earth elementals, after all. He and Gladio should get along like a house on fire.

Ignis, owner of one of the small, weapon-type Remnants that he was considered the Aeons significantly more impressive.

Bahamut in particular, for cultural reasons, but Ifrit called to the fire elemental in him. Tayuya's closeness with her chosen Aeon was noticeable. That bond of trust was something Ignis found himself envying. To have something so powerful entrust command of itself to you must have been a high honour.

"Would that it were so simple," he replied, with a smile. "They are awe inspiring."

Kadaj shrugged, resting his hand on Souba's hilt. He wasn't about to deny that he liked impressing the two Lucians, and their faces made him stand a little straighter and prouder.

"It's not that hard," he answered. "Everyone gets one," he explained, "you need to take it on as a proper class to have more."

If he dropped Summoner from his own roster, he'd be restricted to Bahamut, as his first Aeon. He didn't know if the others would still be there in his headspace if he did that, but dropping the class would probably be considered a breaking of their contract.

Kadaj had never so much as considered it, no matter how limiting it could be.

"Seriously?" Gladio asked, raising his eyebrows, more to Kadaj's statement than Tayuya's.

It made sense that everybody got the opportunity to have one Aeon. Of course, not everybody wanted to dedicate their time to them, or an entire class. People were restricted to three, except where magic was concerned, so it stood to reason that the vast majority of people didn't want or need an army of Aeons, but they could prove useful in a sticky situation for somebody not particularly well-versed in combat. A low-effort method of protection.

To make a Class of it took dedication. To have a good, strong single Aeon took dedication. It wasn't for him, but perhaps Ignis...

"Why don't you give it a go?" He asked, turning to him.

Ignis had tilted his head, listening as Kadaj and Tayuya spoke. He had so many questions, not least about what it felt like to Summon, and how it worked. If everybody got one, did that mean that having an Aeon was actually commonplace?

His thoughts were derailed when Gladio addressed him. Give it a go, as if Aeons were on a par with Blitzball and might be a fun jaunt for an afternoon.

"I think you'll find me woefully unprepared and uninformed for such a venture," he replied.

Kadaj shook his head at Ignis's response. He hadn't been especially well prepared when he's been going for Bahamut, and Bahamut had been sure to let him know about it, but he'd still taken him on.

"So long as you've got a Guardian and know where you're going that's all you need." It was all he'd had, although in his case he'd also come equipped with a bad attitude and an inferiority complex coupled with a desperate need to get the praise of authority figures. "Most people don't know anything when they're going for their first Aeon."

Some of the Fayths were more forgiving than others because of that. Valefor, Ifrit, they were some of the popular newbie friendly ones, but in experienced hands they were devastatingly powerful. Bahamut was tougher, but would still take on newbie Summoners if he saw something in them.

"I was an idiot, but Bahamut still took me."

"You're still an idiot," Tayuya muttered, folding her arms. "But he's right. So long as you pick an Aeon you think you'll be good with, and a Guardian you trust to get you there and back in one piece, you should be fine." Should be. There were always outside chances that you wouldn't be.

"Some of the Fayths are harder to get to than others, and some are more discerning than others. You're usually best picking one with your elemental affinity, for your first, and preferably that isn't in the ruined asshole of somewhere, like," she cast around for awkward bastard places to find Fayths, "Baaj Temple is, for example." She threw a pointed, sidelong glance at Kadaj.

Gladio grinned at Ignis in response to the comments from the two Summoners.

It made sense that they wouldn't know anything to begin with. Aeon summoning was going to be a new field for anybody just getting into it and he doubted all the reading in the world could prepare you for going to see your very first one. It would be like doing anything for the first time.

"Where's Baaj Temple?" he asked.

Tayuya scowled, still side eyeing Kadaj as she answered Gladio's question.

"Half underwater, guarded by a really big, really fucking pissy carnivorous fish, on a broken spit of land called Baaj island, in Nabradia. You know, the country that's mostly Necrohol?"

Although Baaj Island hadn't been in good shape even before Nabradia became the ruin it is today, but it still served to emphasise her point about it being a fucking terrible place to try and get to. "Kadaj is Anima's first Summoner in five hundred years," she added. "The easy to reach Fayths get petitioned more."

Ignis smiled without humour. "Like Ifrit?" he asked. It would be interesting to meet a Fayth, certainly, whether he came out of it with an Aeon or not, and if he'd stand a better chance opting for one of his own elemental affinity, then Ifrit seemed obvious.

"Don't go for Ifrit," Kadaj said, looking at Ignis. "There's only one Aeon. If you and Tayuya were in the same fight and she summoned him, you wouldn't be able to. Ifrit's pretty popular, so you've got to be as good as Tayuya to be sure he'll actually come to you every time. Otherwise, if someone else is calling him, and they're stronger than you, or have a better bond with him than you, you're out of luck."

It was part of why Kadaj had gone for Bahamut. That, and showboating. Bahamut was much less newbie friendly, and his cloister of trials were a pain in the ass, so there were a lot less people in the world able to call on him.

"There any other Fire Aeons a little less... popular?" Gladio asked with a laugh.

Fire was a common enough Element, so he half expected that there would be. After all, it was probably the case that whatever Element the person who gave themselves up as a Fayth was, their Aeon would be. The rarer Elements were probably less commonly represented for that reason. That's what he figured, anyway. It was always possible that some rarer Elements, such as Ice, were disproportionately represented among Aeons on account of those with Mist Mutations being more inclined to battle than those without, but he couldn't say he'd looked into it. Rare Elements, those more often seen in monsters, animals or Daemons, were originally seen in the Mist touched before the regular population, after all. That was how mutations worked.

"Loads," Tayuya answered. She eyed Ignis critically. "Brynhildr would have you because you're a guy," she explained, "you stand an outside chance with Cerberus if you could convince them to open up to you at Cosmo Canyon but he usually prefer multi-elementals," she thought. Djinn would be a waste of time so she didn't bother to mention him.

"What are your classes?" she asked. Ignis seemed like a mage, but you could never be sure, and some Aeons preferred people of one class over another.

Ignis threw Gladio a very brief sidelong glance before he answered. "Black mage, white mage, saboteur," he said, leaving out that he'd mastered two of those and was now two other things. He'd rather not tell everyone here that he was an assassin, for example.

"Does that make a difference?"

"Some of the Fayths prefer people with particular classes, or won't take people with certain classes." He wrinkled his nose. "Some of them won't take men, some won't take Al Bhed, some won't take Selkies, some are picky about Hyur."

Tayuya had books and books and books about the known Aeons and their Fayths. Kadaj had been able to do more of his own reading about them thanks to Even. It wasn't easy, and the letters still swam on the page, but following the words with his finger helped even if it made him feel like a four year old.

A four year old that could read, Even had pointed out. Kadaj hadn't been able to argue.

"What about Phoenix?" he asked, looking at Tayuya. "Barely anyone goes for him, and he likes healers."

Gladio listened. Huh. There were even more Fire options than he'd considered. He'd expected maybe three, but there were at least four which gave Ignis plenty of options. He looked at Ignis when Phoenix was mentioned.

The Aeons might not be a thing on Eos, but the term 'rise like a phoenix' wasn't unknown. It was entirely possible that the Aeons modeled their forms on known animals, or something similar. A fiery bird associated with Fire and Healing certainly made that sound possible, or it could be that the phrase had come about in response to the Aeon, but he doubted it, especially with the lack of informational travel between the continents in the past.

"Where's his Fayth?" He asked.

Tayuya looked thoughtful at the suggestion of Phoenix. He was probably a good bet for a fire elemental healer, although his power range made him less newbie friendly.

"The Fire Cavern," she answered, looking at Gladio. "In Galbadia. It's a big, fiend infested maze, and you need accessories to get through unless you're fire elemental." Which was better than the old fashioned way of doing it, which was trawling another nasty old ruin first to go and find the thing to douse the flames, and then you'd still have the fiends to beat, but at least you could bring your non-fire elemental Guardians. "Between the maze, the monsters, and the fire, he's a pain in the ass to get to, and he's picky to boot. I've never gone for him."

Ignis folded his arms and frowned. "That sounds like a lot of effort for potentially very little reward." Not that the prospect of a maze fazed him, and a fire filled cavern certainly didn't hold any fears for Ignis, but traipsing to Galbadia and petitioning a choosy Fayth might not be a successful venture.

Kadaj grinned. "That's summoning in a nutshell," he said. "It's up to you," he added, with a small shrug. "You could just head for Ifrit and get an Aeon you won't use like most people do, or you could do it the way it's meant to be done and look for an Aeon that fits you and you can build a bond with that'll be there to back you up when you most need it. If you want an Aeon it's worth going about it properly."

And you never knew, maybe after getting his first Aeon Ignis would find the allure of becoming an actual Summoner tempting and make it one of his classes. It would probably be a more popular class if parents didn't take their children along to get an Aeon and let them make their own choices when they were older.

"It might be something to think about," Gladio said, switching back to Lucian.

Ignis certainly had the temperament for it and it wasn't as if one Aeon would cause a shuffling of his Classes. He didn't have much to lose, they'd just have to find an Aeon that suited him. Phoenix sounded ideal, but the remote location and difficult to reach Fayth sounded like it could both be a hindrance to the entire process and also something of a boon, if he managed to get the Aeon on-side. If nothing else, it would allow them to see a little more of the lowerworld, especially since it was a part they wouldn't have visited otherwise.

Ignis looked at Gladio. He had a lot of reservations, some of which he wouldn't say out loud, such as the embarrassment he'd feel if he were to drag everyone out to such an out of the way place only to find he was unworthy of the Fayth. Their time was undoubtedly better spent on other ventures.

But there was such an appeal to it, to the very idea of communing with some centuries old spirit to beg its power. Even just visiting the Fayth, that experience of meeting one, was alluring.

And Phoenix. The name held meaning, and connotations. An Aeon of rebirth and life, a fire elemental that liked healers. It did sound just right for him.

When he did finally speak, it was in Lucian. "You're sure you don't object? You have much more significant people to guard than me."

"Right now, the only thing I have to guard the prince from is his vegetables," Gladio said, his good nature the only thing standing between him and an eyeroll at Noct's expense. "We told them we'd be looking at the lowerworld after the meeting, right? This counts."

He gave a grin. They had planned to have a look around, spend a few weeks, a month or so, looking into the various cities and towns, places of interest, looking at the culture and traditions ... and the less savoury aspects of life. Surely going to a Fayth counted. If they were simply to look, they could find one less out of the way, but if Ignis felt like he could handle one... why not go for one he'd actually use, rather than paying lip service to the tradition?

Ignis's mouth tightened at the mention of Noct and vegetables. He'd have expressed the view that Noct didn't require Gladio to guard him from them on account of his evasion ability against that particular foe being fully mastered.

Gladio, however, seemed all for visiting a Fayth, even if it was one as out of the way as Phoenix. Ignis certainly wished to get out in the Lowerworld, and Gladio was right, they had said they'd be staying to investigate the world a little further.

He looked at Tayuya and Kadaj. "We're likely to require a guide," he said to them, "and I welcome any advice you may have."

Will I find something in there to give me just what I need

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