#The star speak to us; It's our duty to respond

[familiar-cxsmxs]

Yet another bump that would be able to rouse anyone that was perhaps hoping to get a chance at rest. The familiar feeling of the twin next to him, silent yet the presence was all too obvious at the same time. Two lookalike siblings were bound to be notable, after all. But yet, the presence of the others within the carriage were also all but unknown. The man and woman on the side across from them, nothing one would think too much of most of the time.

It seemed to rouse the woman on the other side, almost as if she was snapping out of a sort of daze that caused confusion and a lack of awareness. But then the man started to speak to her since he had tried to speak to the twins to no avail. But yet, while she was speaking to him, she was moreso noting. . . Something, that seemed to catch her interest near the twins. Nothing actually being there to most, but something she could still seem to see nonetheless.

The words of the area, something that a newly arrived person of Gridania should know about the people and what had happened since the calamity. She was taking interest, sure, but her interest had been on the nothingness next to them, and then the fighting that was going on outside soon after. A look of curiousity, interest even. As if it was something that she had never quite seen before. At least, not to this degree-

". . . Interesting." She Au Ra quietly muttered to herself, lips pursing at the fighting before she could feel the carriage start to speed off with them in it. The sudden movement seemed to cause her to practically fall out of her seat, letting out a quiet noise of temporary pain from the kind of landing she had gotten just from that in of itself. She knew it wasn't intentional, but. . . Ow. . .

Instead, her gaze went back to the others, getting back up and getting the reassurance that she needed that they were alright-

". . ." The smallest, quietest sigh slipped out of the young Elezen boy's mouth as the chocobo carriage hit another bump in the Twelveswood. Having been stirred from his sleep, he opened his eyes only just enough to be able to see what all was going on around him. The young woman, the older man, the moogles floating about the carriage causing trouble as they usually did. He knew that most weren't going to be able to see them, so he said nothing of their presence.

Of course, when the Ixal attacked the carriage, he was mildly concerned. It wasn't like the beastmen to attack so close to the larger city-states, yet he had heard of it having happened multiple times on their way to the Tweleveswood. He had to wonder what was allowing to push on closer and closer, outside of the Garleans also barking at their heels.

Ah, it was nothing for them to immediately worry about. He did however note the way that the young Au'ra had fallen over when the carriage jolted forwards. That brought him to being fully awake, and likely did the same for his sister, though he didn't pay much mind to that at the moment.

"You're alright there, yes?" He hadn't planned on speaking at all during the entire ride, but the natural concern about making sure a fellow member of the Source was okay just simply. Took over.

[familiar-cxsmxs]

Alphinaud, what's your opinion on your parents?

"Ah, the thoughts on my parents. Well, it's a mixed bag depending on which one I'm talking about specifically. If we're talking about my mother, I think of her as being an absolute sweetheart that has my sister's and my back the entire way. She's always made sure to send us any treats that she could whenever we managed to send a letter her way." The fondness in his voice spoke volumes about how Alphinaud adored his mother and her willingness to do whatever she needed or wanted to in order to help her children and their friends. Through thick and thin, he knew that their mother would always be there for them.

Their father, however. . .

"Father, on the other hand, I don't know how to feel about him. I don't know how to respond to the fact that he'd disowned us because our efforts to help Eorzea contradicted his efforts to merely protect Sharlayan and have things ready to run away from the problem instead of helping to confront it. It wasn't until we had all but finished doing everything we could here on the star and needed a way to pursue Meteion to the edge of the universe that we finally managed to get it through to him that we weren't helpless as a race. That his children were strong enough to do this." Alphinaud spoke with a hint of anger, perhaps even irritation in his voice, at the thought of how much they had to do in order to even achieve the goal of convincing the Forum of listening to them. To convince Father to listen to them. And to think that he would then follow it up by giving them a sob story about how the moment he'd held their hands that was when he knew that he would do whatever he thought was necessary. . .

[familiar-cxsmxs]

☝ + Summoning a Carbuncle (Alphinaud)

"Ah, yes. The first time I'd ever summoned one of the few Carbuncle that I can command. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell of how my first summoning went." Alphinaud sat back in the seat of his chair, resting peacefully in one of the various resting chambers of Sharlyan before the trip to visit the Turalli to see how he might help the Garleans to achieve the same level of peace as them.

But his thoughts dwelled not on that right then. Instead, he cast his thoughts back to when he first summoned his original carbuncle. Most typically summoned an Emerald, Ruby, or Topaz carbuncle as their first. After all, they all required less aether to control properly. Perhaps if they were a little stronger aetherially speaking, they might be able to summon even the Onyx carbuncle.

However, he was not like most students to have attended the Studium. No, his aether was incredibly strong for his age, simply due to a number of factors. He was a twin, an Elezen, and was born of two parents whose aetherial capacity was quite impressive as well. Oh yes, and he was one of two grandchildren of Louisoix. So to say that his aether capacity was impressive was no mere jest.

Indeed that when he summoned his carbuncle, it was to no surprise from him that it was an unforeseen result of a Moonstone Carbuncle. Incredibly powerful in their own right, and not to be underestimated by any means for what they can provide. They also proved to be a trusty companion for completion of a number of his classes work that required the retrieval of something dangerous from the Labrynthos, or if he needed to observe the effect of additional aether being bestowed upon beings already aether sensitive. Of course, he never did anything that could actually harm his carbuncle in any form.