I used a peculiar word to describe what I have happening in my post; can you pick out which one? The Beckoning was a term introduced in Final Fantasy X2.5 and ~Will~ as an alternate result of manipulating pyreflies to recall the deceased. That builds upon what happened during my last Iezak and Mishka posts. During the epilogue, the characters encounter a family and realise the mother is dead, but the image created by the pyreflies can still speak. She's virtually an unsent, though her existence was brought about because her child wanted to see her. The events of my last posts precipitated in the Beckonings and the first incident is what Mishka undergoes in this post, beckoning her victims out of guilt for Yuubou and Yuki's deaths.
Speaking of them, I hadn't actually intended for the twins to return, but it worked out well and turned out to be a proper send off for them. <3 Of course, they were only beckoned versions so, if any of you would like to say your farewells to them, too, you're welcome to do so as haboo already has. =p
Now that that's out of the way, I want to say, I hope everyone enjoyed my more detailed portrayal of Mishka's past and her personality with regard to it. She honestly doesn't mean to come off as sadistic. Much as Xiang, Nikki, and the others in the gang, Mishka grew to accept being the Slayer to keep her sanity and so, many of her victims never registered in her humanity er... guadoity?
It wasn't until her final victim that she couldn't ignore it any longer. I'd originally wanted to include that they'd known each other and had become friends before she was ordered to kill her, but I felt it wasn't necessary. The murder was awful enough as it was without needing to show Mishka as being unsentimental. However, I hope this further and better illustrates why Mishka was as distraught as she was when she first met Teraan.
And Cyan and Mishka made up! Yay! Except for the part where Mishka still distanced herself and that black sickle business. Speaking of that sickle, it is still the Corrupter but in a new form, which will play a significant role once we return to the Via Infinito. As such, it bears the same abilities but at a stronger level. And just what was the black fog surrounding it? Well, I'm sure most of you have seen it before. If anyone has followed my forum history, I had once named it Dark Myst.
I hope I've done well in developing Xiang, haboo. As you wanted to have Mishka become a mentor like Tomoya, I thought this was a good moment to provide a sampling of it while simultaneously continuing Xiang's story. I also hinted at a budding relationship between her and Kai, but I might leave that for you to develop if you'd like.
Mishka will be spending the remainder of the Open Arc in their company, I would think. Cyan, on the other hand, is off on a wander and probably a bit upset from what happened. If you want, you could interact with them in your Open Arcs, perhaps give Cyan hope or something that Mishka will come around. *whispers* She won't. xD