☼ 004 ☼ | Video

[wilder]

[Filtered from Seles]

[A rare video feed from Kaneis comes on, partly because one of his roommates had to turn on the tablet. It becomes quickly apparently why- it seems his hands and locks of his hair are tangled up with strips of brightly colored leopard print duct tape. Someone attempted to do home repairs when they knew absolutely nothing about home repair. The background shows one giant hole in the wall about six inches in diameter, just to give you an idea. Allen is next to him, trying to get some of the duct tape off]

Okay okay- I'll ask! Just get me outta this stuff!

[He gives a huff and looks at the camera. He looks rather disgruntled]

Say, does anyone out there know where a person can get a couch? Ours kinda...got wrecked the other day and we can't fix it.

Oh and, stuff to seal up holes in the wall? That'd be good too.

Thanks in- [And then he YELLS "OW" as Allen his roommate pulls a piece out of his hair not so gently]

ALLEN! THAT WAS MY HAIR!

[Transmission end!]

Comments

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

[Asbel laughs lightly, although there seems to be a hint of a joke here somewhere.] It wouldn't surprise me if that were true.

[It's just hard to tell what parts of "everything" are real. :/]

In any case, I doubt I'd be who I am today if it hadn't been for Captain Malik's guidance.

[Video]

[wilder]

Heh, how lucky you are then.

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

Thanks, I think.

Are you going to be able to get the rest of that stuff out of your hair? [Um. You know, without yanking all of it out.]

[Video]

[wilder]

Ahahah, sure sure! I've gotten worse out of my hair!

At least it's not slime.

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

All right. But if you run into trouble, you might ask Cheria about it. [Because Cheria has nice hair? And she's also the only one in their little group who has the patience to untangle Sophie's ridiculously long pigtails.]

And yeah, I hear you. Being poisoned every few minutes isn't much fun either.

[Those monsters can be a real problem when you don't have charms handy.]

[Video]

[wilder]

Oh yeah, I guess she would know more than Sophie and Allen. [Yeah who do you think got stuck with dealing with Sophie's pigtails BEFORE Cheria came sob]

-- Every few minutes?! How often do you get poisoned?

[Video] There's a fourth wall here somewhere I think.

[pactfulfilled]

[Wow, you deserve a medal for that one, Kaneis. Where do you even start?]

Not too often. I mean, usually we stocked up on charms and all that before heading into an area with monsters, but occasionally we'd misplace one or sell it off for stamps.

[That kind of poison. The magical, battle-only kind. He's not Richard.]

[Video] It is always with us, right now we're leaning on it

[wilder]

Ohhh-

Wait. You'd sell your protective charms for stamps?

[Video] We all need somebody to lean on.............

[pactfulfilled]

Um, yeah? That's because if you fill up enough stamp cards, you earn V.I.P. privileges!

[How can anyone not be intrigued by these mysterious and hard-to-get V.I.P. privileges?]

[Video] You can lean on me Asbel.......

[wilder]

V.I.P. privileges?

V.I.P. privileges to what?

[Video] And you'll be my friend?

[pactfulfilled]

See? That's just it! It could be anything! [Asbel clenches his free hand into a fist.] They never explain what the V.I.P. privileges actually are at all.

I mean, wouldn't you start shopping around and dualizing like crazy, just to find out what you can get??

[He's obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this...]

[Video] forever and ever maybe

[wilder]

...Wait, so you never actually figured out what the privileges were?

I dunno if I would...

[SO THINKING YOU GOT CONNED]

[Video] Maybe? Too Veigue.

[pactfulfilled]

Well, I did notice that some of the shops were selling rare items and higher quality equipment. But we still haven't maxed out all our cards yet. You don't get the level ten privileges until you earn all the corresponding stamps.

Hey, come on. You've got to be at least a little curious...

[It does sound that way, doesn't it?]

[Video]

[wilder]

Oh? And...just how much money does it take to get all the stamps?

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

That's a good question.

I've never stopped to calculate it before, but if I had to venture a guess, the total amount would probably be around...

[Doing the math here.]

[Video]

[wilder]

[And he'll wait with bated breath for the math to be done!!]

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

[Are you ready for this, Kaneis? He's done the math, bless him. Asbel says nothing for a moment, then lets out a deep sigh.]

...You don't want to know.

[Video]

[wilder]

-- That bad?!?

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

Yeah...it's pretty bad. Like in Lhant? I'm figuring it'd cost about a million gald to max out the shops' stamp cards.

But fortunately a lot of it's off supplies we need anyway, and you get credit for selling back items, so if you look at it from that perspective...

[Tales of Graces f World Problems: NEVER ENOUGH GALD.]

[Video]

[wilder]

-- A MILLION GALD FOR ONE STAMP CARD?!

That's more than just pretty bad!! You could rebuild an entire town for- that's insane!

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

Whaa-- An entire town!?

[Either towns are really inexpensive in Tethe'alla or there's some serious inflation problems going on at home.]

[Video]

[wilder]

[Probably a bit of both. And Zelos is so caught up by the MILLION GALD THING he totally forgets to play dumb about Sylvarant on-goings oops]

Yeah! Well maybe not one as big as Meltokio, but there was a town called Luin that got destroyed by the Desians. When they decided to rebuild they estimated it'd take about...half a million?

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

[Meltokio. That's the name of the capital Sheena was talking about at the dinner party, isn't it? But, wow. Maybe they've been wasting more money than he realized, if it could be put to use repairing a destroyed town... He's sure they could manage all right with less expensive gear.]

Oh... I didn't know that.

[It reminds him a little - a little painfully - of the time when Fendel invaded Lhant.]

So, who are the Desians, and why would they destroy an entire town? Was there some kind of territorial dispute?

[Video]

[wilder]

[It's okay dude, the mystery of VIP privileges still needs solving]

[And aw crap, the question at the Desians makes him remember he's not supposed to talk about Sylvarant- but oh well. Emil and Aster already asked around about Sylvarant so it's not like he can play ignorant forever.]

Nah, it wasn't territorial. The Desians were an organization of half-elves that considered humans to be inferior beings. They'd raid towns, destroy any sort of infrastructure people try to build and capture humans to take to their human ranches...which is as pleasant as it sounds.

[Video]

[pactfulfilled]

[The first part of Kaneis' explanation is pretty horrible. But he knows someone who has distrusted and even hated human beings - Lambda's unwavering condescension of humanity is nothing new.]

[But ranches. The word evokes images of cows. Ranches are where cows are herded, bred, and raised for food, right? Should they ever get loose, they have markings on them, and the Windor crest, which help their owners track them down again. So a human ranch means...]

[Asbel's voice wavers a little, his expression drawn.]

You mean they wrecked people's towns...took them prisoner, and then treated them like animals?

[This is so not okay anymore.]