This memory is of Kuja wandering the busy streets of Treno! He's made it down near the waterfront, where all the fanciest of fops and most armed of guards are. The people around him almost look more like him than he does; he's not yet evolved himself into the untouchable hothouse orchid he would one day become; sporting his natural red hair, blue eyes, and a lack of visible feathers or tail. His clothes look very... slutty wanderer of the land. Listen, it IS still Kuja.
There are little interactions he has, with passers-by, that can subtly tip you off he's at a point in his life he's no longer all that socially inept, in this scene. But he still looks wide eyed and overwhelmed, taking in the forever-dark city and its throngs of people... on a grassy stone pathway, he walks directly by a blond man in a pointed wizard hat who he looks, maybe, passingly similar to. It's mainly in the height; the passing stranger could be 6'3, whereabouts. There are people parting so he can pass. Kuja notices the man's given him, for whatever reason, a lingering gaze.
Once he's at a safe distance, Kuja inquires quietly who THAT guy is, that everyone's acting like this.
"Do you live under a rock? That's Lord ■■♤■!"
That's odd. That the name's censored.
...Kuja steals away out of sight, into a dingy between-space of one building to the next, and conjures up his little Scan orb. "That one, with the pointed hat... go follow him," he tells it, and it goes flitting off. He waits, completely still, in place. The ambient light doesn't change, but one of the lanterns nearby burns down and goes out. There is a small slice of the street visible, with people passing by.
Eventually, the Scan returns. Kuja holds up his hand to receive it, and it melts away into his palm.
From the fountain's point of view, there's no way of knowing what he saw. But he gets a... small, cryptic smile. "I see... so that one really is one of the most powerful of this city's 'nobles.'" He idly twirls his crimson hair around his fingers... "Gaians are really all the same. I could probably cause a lot of them to die without having to do anything at all, if I got close to that man..."
[ he can feel his lifeblood, tacky on his back, soaking into the soil and foliage beneath him. she's holding tightly to his hand, fingers primed to feel his fading pulse. he can't bring himself to meet ■■■■■■'s eyes.
SETTING: ( INT. King's Mansion, Treno. An opulent hall with a high ceiling, leading on into a windowless study packed with eclectica. KUJA drapes himself into a plush armchair, a hand pressed over his eyes, and melts like he's been bearing the world on his shoulders. VIVI, the PROTOTYPE, a discoordinated doll the size of a child, slowly waddles in. Beat. KUJA slowly pulls his hand from over his face. )
KUJA, DROLL: “…following me from room to room now, huh?”
( VIVI trudges over to stand beside the chair, looking up at KUJA, without a word. KUJA keeps talking to himself without hesitation. )
KUJA: “You’re precious, just marching along.” KUJA: “I suppose I should write that down and figure out why for the next version. She won’t find it nearly as cute.” KUJA: “...Too bad I can’t just ask. I do know you can hear me, but… it’s frustrating that I couldn’t replicate the way that we Genomes can just…”
( KUJA suddenly snaps his fingers. )
KUJA, INSPIRED:
“Hold on. Let’s do a test! No speech, yet, but your locomotion’s not so bad-- a little clumsier than I’d like, but you’re already better than yesterday. I didn’t expect you’d be so good at learning. How fantastic.” ( KUJA pulls himself up out of his chair, and starts thoughtfully drifting around the room, scanning the objects present as he concocts a plan to "test" his doll of war. KUJA comes to a stop beside a table laden with a heavy tome. )
KUJA “Now.. come over here beside me. Do you know what this is? Do you know what you’re supposed to do with it? Show me.”
( KUJA gestures to his side, and VIVI obediently comes over. VIVI picks up the book from the table, and clumsily puzzles over it. VIVI opens the book, flips it over... then offers it up to KUJA, holding it open by the covers. It makes a pointy shape, spine to the sky. It's a hat! )
KUJA, CHARMED: “That’s… incorrect.” KUJA “Alright. So… you don’t intuitively know what a book is. That’s.. well, fine, neither did I, when I think about it.”
( KUJA takes the book from VIVI, and opens it properly, supporting the spine with one hand. )
KUJA “So you open it up like THIS. Now, take it-- careful, careful! That one volume’s more expensive to produce than every stitch of you was!”
( VIVI accepts the book back. )
KUJA “Now… flip to the… seventh chapter. And point to the end of the third sentence. Then.. find the same word on the page again. You won’t have to look far.” KUJA “….” KUJA, AGITATED: “You can flip more than one page at a time, come on!” KUJA, ENTHRALLED: “….” KUJA “...You really did it.” KUJA, MANIC: “Haha---hahahah! Eeheehee hee hee hee! You did it! You-- I’ve done it!”
( For the first time, VIVI experiences being held. KUJA gathers VIVI up in his arms, and spins them both around in a gleeful circle. KUJA doesn't seem to care at all about the book's value, heedless to it falling on the floor. )
KUJA, MANIC: “So what if you’re a mute?! So what if they’re all mutes, every blessed one! You can read orders, you can learn from what you’re given-- ah, I’ll actually… I can really…”
Edited 2023-12-13 05:55 (UTC)
lead up to entering the invincible's crucible to absorb a soul
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first passing encounter with lord king, in treno
There are little interactions he has, with passers-by, that can subtly tip you off he's at a point in his life he's no longer all that socially inept, in this scene. But he still looks wide eyed and overwhelmed, taking in the forever-dark city and its throngs of people... on a grassy stone pathway, he walks directly by a blond man in a pointed wizard hat who he looks, maybe, passingly similar to. It's mainly in the height; the passing stranger could be 6'3, whereabouts. There are people parting so he can pass. Kuja notices the man's given him, for whatever reason, a lingering gaze.
Once he's at a safe distance, Kuja inquires quietly who THAT guy is, that everyone's acting like this.
"Do you live under a rock? That's Lord ■■♤■!"
That's odd. That the name's censored.
...Kuja steals away out of sight, into a dingy between-space of one building to the next, and conjures up his little Scan orb.
"That one, with the pointed hat... go follow him," he tells it, and it goes flitting off. He waits, completely still, in place. The ambient light doesn't change, but one of the lanterns nearby burns down and goes out. There is a small slice of the street visible, with people passing by.
Eventually, the Scan returns. Kuja holds up his hand to receive it, and it melts away into his palm.
From the fountain's point of view, there's no way of knowing what he saw. But he gets a... small, cryptic smile.
"I see... so that one really is one of the most powerful of this city's 'nobles.'"
He idly twirls his crimson hair around his fingers...
"Gaians are really all the same. I could probably cause a lot of them to die without having to do anything at all, if I got close to that man..."
- used in day 22 of
dying in the iifa tree
she's holding tightly to his hand, fingers primed to feel his fading pulse. he can't bring himself to meet ■■■■■■'s eyes."I don't understand you." ]
- day 22, introspection corrupted by the Meteia
making a deal with brahne to take her soul into his body.
- shared with chant during bar(n)tender
final test to be allowed into gaia. the answer to why he's a failed prototype.
- story told to blood fiend day 22.
finding out the black mage prototype (vivi) can read.
- shared with perci during bar(n)tender, to get tinctures.
SLIGHTLY CUT VERSION TO SHOW BETA
SETTING:
( INT. King's Mansion, Treno. An opulent hall with a high ceiling, leading on into a windowless study packed with eclectica. KUJA drapes himself into a plush armchair, a hand pressed over his eyes, and melts like he's been bearing the world on his shoulders. VIVI, the PROTOTYPE, a discoordinated doll the size of a child, slowly waddles in. Beat. KUJA slowly pulls his hand from over his face. )
KUJA, DROLL:
“…following me from room to room now, huh?”
( VIVI trudges over to stand beside the chair, looking up at KUJA, without a word. KUJA keeps talking to himself without hesitation. )
KUJA:
“You’re precious, just marching along.”
KUJA:
“I suppose I should write that down and figure out why for the next version. She won’t find it nearly as cute.”
KUJA:
“...Too bad I can’t just ask. I do know you can hear me, but… it’s frustrating that I couldn’t replicate the way that we Genomes can just…”
( KUJA suddenly snaps his fingers. )
KUJA, INSPIRED:
( KUJA pulls himself up out of his chair, and starts thoughtfully drifting around the room, scanning the objects present as he concocts a plan to "test" his doll of war. KUJA comes to a stop beside a table laden with a heavy tome. )
KUJA
“Now.. come over here beside me. Do you know what this is? Do you know what you’re supposed to do with it? Show me.”
( KUJA gestures to his side, and VIVI obediently comes over. VIVI picks up the book from the table, and clumsily puzzles over it. VIVI opens the book, flips it over... then offers it up to KUJA, holding it open by the covers. It makes a pointy shape, spine to the sky. It's a hat! )
KUJA, CHARMED:
“That’s… incorrect.”
KUJA
“Alright. So… you don’t intuitively know what a book is. That’s.. well, fine, neither did I, when I think about it.”
( KUJA takes the book from VIVI, and opens it properly, supporting the spine with one hand. )
KUJA
“So you open it up like THIS. Now, take it-- careful, careful! That one volume’s more expensive to produce than every stitch of you was!”
( VIVI accepts the book back. )
KUJA
“Now… flip to the… seventh chapter. And point to the end of the third sentence. Then.. find the same word on the page again. You won’t have to look far.”
KUJA
“….”
KUJA, AGITATED:
“You can flip more than one page at a time, come on!”
KUJA, ENTHRALLED:
“….”
KUJA
“...You really did it.”
KUJA, MANIC:
“Haha---hahahah! Eeheehee hee hee hee! You did it! You-- I’ve done it!”
( For the first time, VIVI experiences being held. KUJA gathers VIVI up in his arms, and spins them both around in a gleeful circle. KUJA doesn't seem to care at all about the book's value, heedless to it falling on the floor. )
KUJA, MANIC:
“So what if you’re a mute?! So what if they’re all mutes, every blessed one! You can read orders, you can learn from what you’re given-- ah, I’ll actually… I can really…”
lead up to entering the invincible's crucible to absorb a soul