1. LAVODE: MAKE IT RED [ Ena is seriously considering taking up the Red Mage asterisk.
While they're stopped in Lavode, she spends every day mingling with the members of the guild and anyone else who decides to hang around. She watches every demonstration and asks every question she can.
It's only on the last day there that one of the guild members lets her hold one of the rapiers. She smiles, almost glowing as she admires it. ]
It's nice. I would rather prefer to use my own rapier to fight, but this'll do.
[ Oh, to hold a rapier again. To talk to people of noble status about meaningless things. To have spells in her arsenal again. To feel like she mattered.
This is all she wanted. ]
2. KIDDILION: NEVERMIND, PAINT IT BLACK or CLOUD CITY: HOW CAN MIRRORS BE REAL IF OUR EYES AREN'T REAL [ Except, it isn't.
The reason she didn't take the Red Mage asterisk was because she knew there were other magic guilds yet to be seen. That was the reason she was telling herself, at least. Deep down, something was pulling her back.
As she watched the demonstrations of other guilds, she thought about what magic meant to her, why she used it.
It was not so she could play nice with other nobles.
It was for control over her surroundings, so that she may go about as she pleased with no restrictions. It was for the rush of adrenaline when using a powerful and destructive spell, an almost Pavlovian response her brother had conditioned in her.
That was what she wanted.
So it's almost right after the very first demonstration at the Black Mage's she goes right ahead and gains that asterisk. She barely stays a day before she decides that the last location isn't worth seeing, and requests a separate, escorted ride to Cloud City to gain the Illusionist asterisk without a single word to anyone she knows.
That might take someone who had seen her hanging out at the Red Mage Guild all day every day by surprise. Or perhaps you saw the momentary clarity - or was it a shadow? - beneath her cordial facade as she watched the Black Mage demonstration. ]
3. ABOARD THE RAGNAROK [ Between stops, Ena will park herself at a table in a common area on the ship. Alvin the moogle will be propping up her iMog before her as she concentrates on furiously writing things down on a cheap, flimsy notebook. As with all convenient devices, after a minute or so the screen goes black and Ena lets out an audible grunt of frustration. She taps at the screen for a few moments before Alvin gets the hint to fix it. Then after another minute or so, she finds herself back at the home screen, taps her way back to where she was, and groans when she sees the whole thing refreshed and she has to scroll to find where she was. When she does, she goes back to writing... and rinse and repeat.
A more tech savvy person (read: anyone else) will notice that Alvin the moogle is actually turning the tablet off then turning it back on whenever it goes into sleep mode, chuckling as he does so. He's only doing what Ena tells him, after all - "Turn it back on!" ]
Ena / OTA
[ Ena is seriously considering taking up the Red Mage asterisk.
While they're stopped in Lavode, she spends every day mingling with the members of the guild and anyone else who decides to hang around. She watches every demonstration and asks every question she can.
It's only on the last day there that one of the guild members lets her hold one of the rapiers. She smiles, almost glowing as she admires it. ]
It's nice. I would rather prefer to use my own rapier to fight, but this'll do.
[ Oh, to hold a rapier again. To talk to people of noble status about meaningless things. To have spells in her arsenal again. To feel like she mattered.
This is all she wanted. ]
2. KIDDILION: NEVERMIND, PAINT IT BLACK or CLOUD CITY: HOW CAN MIRRORS BE REAL IF OUR EYES AREN'T REAL
[ Except, it isn't.
The reason she didn't take the Red Mage asterisk was because she knew there were other magic guilds yet to be seen. That was the reason she was telling herself, at least. Deep down, something was pulling her back.
As she watched the demonstrations of other guilds, she thought about what magic meant to her, why she used it.
It was not so she could play nice with other nobles.
It was for control over her surroundings, so that she may go about as she pleased with no restrictions. It was for the rush of adrenaline when using a powerful and destructive spell, an almost Pavlovian response her brother had conditioned in her.
That was what she wanted.
So it's almost right after the very first demonstration at the Black Mage's she goes right ahead and gains that asterisk. She barely stays a day before she decides that the last location isn't worth seeing, and requests a separate, escorted ride to Cloud City to gain the Illusionist asterisk without a single word to anyone she knows.
That might take someone who had seen her hanging out at the Red Mage Guild all day every day by surprise. Or perhaps you saw the momentary clarity - or was it a shadow? - beneath her cordial facade as she watched the Black Mage demonstration. ]
3. ABOARD THE RAGNAROK
[ Between stops, Ena will park herself at a table in a common area on the ship. Alvin the moogle will be propping up her iMog before her as she concentrates on furiously writing things down on a cheap, flimsy notebook. As with all convenient devices, after a minute or so the screen goes black and Ena lets out an audible grunt of frustration. She taps at the screen for a few moments before Alvin gets the hint to fix it. Then after another minute or so, she finds herself back at the home screen, taps her way back to where she was, and groans when she sees the whole thing refreshed and she has to scroll to find where she was. When she does, she goes back to writing... and rinse and repeat.
A more tech savvy person (read: anyone else) will notice that Alvin the moogle is actually turning the tablet off then turning it back on whenever it goes into sleep mode, chuckling as he does so. He's only doing what Ena tells him, after all - "Turn it back on!" ]