tw: sexual harassment
-Time to board the airship.
-Steiner runs off to “check and make sure” that the airship has space towards Lindblum. He’s SUPER suspicious and the least casual of all the customers.
-Dagger suspects.
-Huh. They figure it out, but Zidane thinks they should go anyway. Why? Does he know the captain or something?
-Urk. My heart. Vivi is scared, he wants to know if Zidane thinks the dolls looked like him. I think they did, but Zidane would say no. Anything to reassure the li’l guy.
-It’s not out of the realm of possibility for me that Vivi is actually a doll and not a real black mage, and until I actually meet his family or see his village of black mages, it’ll remain a possibility. Maybe he was just implanted with the memories of a grandpa. But even if he IS a doll, I can’t believe he knows it and is lying to cover his tracks.
-The airship takes off. Zidane really wants to get on, asking Dagger to trust him.
-ZIDANE WHAT THE FUCK. Did he really just grab her ass and say “ooh, soft!” while they were climbing up the ladder?
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Aboard the Cargo Ship
-Zidane claims it was an accident. Dude. You literally said, “Ooh, soft!” If it were an accident, that’s not how you’d act. I hope not at least. Yeesh. Don’t turn into FFVII Cid for me. Please.
-Vivi’s scared of heights up here.
He heads inside with Dagger.
-Oh no, Vivi’s freaking out, what happened?
-OH THAT HAPPENED. He sees the black mage dolls inside, a full crew of them.
-Vivi keeps trying to get the attention of one of the mages, but it keeps doing its thing around making the ship fly. Tinkering with the engine, etc.
He’s panicking. They won’t talk to him, and he keeps trying.
-The music is a bit haunting here.
VIVI: “…It’s like… they don’t even see me… at all…” :(
-Dagger’s going to keep Vivi company while Zidane sees what he can do to turn the ship around.
-The ship has an old mist engine, the kind that’s only made in Lindblum. Maybe he can sabotage it and force them to head there directly for repairs.
-Alexandria isn’t technologically advanced.
-Upstairs, above board. Steiner seems to be feeling remorse.
-OH. Right. Nm. He just thinks the Princess isn’t on board and that he failed Brahne. He still wants to take Dagger to her.
-On learning that Garnet is aboard, Steiner is the opposite of remorseful. Tells Zidane he’ll be hanged for his part in this. So… not camping buddies, then?
-Zidane head into the steering room. The pilot is a mage doll who doesn’t seem to notice or interact with people, and doesn’t see Zidane.
-Well, maybe a BIT of remorse. Steiner at least acknowledges that Zidane helped get Garnet onto the ship.
-Yay! Zidane turns the ship around.
-AND THAT’S A SUPER CREEPY CLOSE-UP OF WHAT I ASSUME MUST BE BLACK WALTZ #3 WHO SEES THE SHIP TURNING AROUND AND NO DOUBT IS ON HIS WAY TO KILL US.
-OK THAT’S COOL. Zidane can use his tail to hang from the rafters!
-The mage dolls are being hyper creepy. Silently walking to the people who disrupted the ship’s course, then walking away.
-Black Waltz #3 comes onto the ship, zapping Vivi. I hope that Vivi can at least get some answers.
-btw this new Waltz looks sweet. I’ll bet there’s a great cosplay of him. Too bad he goes on my instant death list by threatening Vivi.
-WHAT???
The mage dolls are moving in to protect Vivi?? I thought they’d be commanded by Black Waltz #3 to help kill Vivi. They’re not just mindless automatons. Something else is at play here.
-So it appears that there’s a hierarchy. A Black Waltz may be a more advanced model than the dolls. He definitely takes offense to the very idea that the mage dolls are standing against him.
-NOO!!! He blasts the mage dolls apart, doing serious damage to the ship in the process. We get a cinematic that’s really sad, watching these mage dolls tossed around like… well, like ragdolls.
-Vivi watches the slaughter – and that’s what it is, dolls or not, it’s a fucking slaughter - in shock and horror.
-The ship breaks apart. The barrels break open and we see mage dolls in free fall.
-It’s hard to describe the beauty and horror of this cinematic. We don’t hear the sound effects of the Waltz cackling or the lightning crackling or Vivi’s gasps of terror. We just see all of it, with Black Waltz #3 lording over it all.
-Back on the ship, the party now reunites in the cockpit (or whatever the proper term is for that room on an airship). Then Vivi gets PISSED.
-He runs out to face Black Waltz #3 head on for what he just did to Vivi’s protectors.
-Steiner runs out to follow. Zidane asks Dagger to steer the ship while he helps Vivi and Steiner, reminding Dagger that she can still either head back to the castle or to the South Gate and Lindblum.
-On the deck. Vivi is shocked, wondering why Black Waltz #3 would do that to his “friends.” Black Waltz disabuses him of this notion – referring to the fallen dolls as “lowly black mage soldiers.” If there is that kind of hierarchy, does that mean that ALL black mages are artificial?
-Boss time. Vivi starts off in trance state. Get ready to be wrecked by a nine year old mage.
-Stole a couple of things, including a Linen Cuirass and a Steepled Hat.
-Victory! Just poured on the damage.
-After defeat, Black Waltz #3 says something a bit disturbing: “I exist only to kill!” I’d suspected that he was a higher and more powerful version of a mage doll, and this bolsters that belief. It implies that he’s programmed, but instead of being programmed to run the airship like the dudes that just died, he’s an assassin of sorts.
-Black Waltz #3 flies off. Zidane thinks that’s the last one, because he’s a “Waltz.” Is that supposed to reference the tempo of a waltz?
-Dagger steers towards the South Gate.
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The Clownmobile
-Zorn and Thorn. On a motorbike. They saw the whole thing.
-They blame Steiner. Well, whether you like it or not Steiner, you’re about to no longer be in Queen Brahne’s good books.
-#3’s definitely an automaton. Zorn and Thorn see it coming towards them and say “it’s broken.”
-Oh, they’re on a plane, not a motorbike.
-Zorn and Thorn jump out of the plane and… fly away? Or just jump off and hope not to die? Looks like they flew. They saw #3 on its way towards them and didn’t want any part of that.
-#3 hops into the plane in their place, repeating his “I exist only to kill” message. Crap. He’s gonna try to ram the airship with the plane.
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Cargo Ship
-“Captain Dagger” is still steering. Towards the South Gate, a gate for airships, but it’s unclear whether they’ll get through since they don’t have clearance.
-They see #3 charging towards them. Their only hope is to charge headlong for the South Gate and hope it closes right before #3 reaches them.
-The whole team now, working together. All on the same (basic) page. Except Vivi, who may still be on deck processing what happened.
-Cinematic as the cargo ship makes for the South Gate, #3 in pursuit in his plane.
-Vivi is on the deck, looking at a lone hat of one of the fallen mage dolls still on the ship.
It falls into the valley below.
-FUCK YES – VIVI LETS OUT A BLAST OF MAGIC AND BLOWS #3’S SHIP OUT OF THE SKY!!
It saps him though, making Vivi collapse.
-Whoops, spoke too soon. #3’s ship is knocked off course, not out of the air yet.
-The chase continues into the first door of the South Gate.
-#3’s ship then catches on fire. Couldn’t tell whether that was a last blast by Vivi or just the nearly-wrecked engine.
-They fly on through towards Lindblum.
There’s a ton of air traffic, lots of airships. Perhaps the first FF game that seems to regard airships as pretty common. FFIV featured an air force, but not casual cargo and commercial flight the way we’re seeing here.
-They made it! Sort of. I mean, sure, the cargo is lost, the ship is nearly destroyed, a massive contingent of innocent mage dolls was lost, and the South Gate is wrecked. But… they made it! Yay?
-I like the music here a lot. Kind of a piping thing. The pipes of victory.
-So what’s next? Steiner will protect the princess. The princess has her own plans. Zidane kind of wants to stay with the princess since he’s attracted to her but
-vivi
-Vivi. What are you gonna do? He’s really impacted by this. Wants to know if he’s the same as those mages.
-Shouldn’t it be easy enough to feel if Vivi’s the same material as the mage dolls? Though now that I think about it, there’s nothing saying that those mages felt like fabric or anything, so not that easy.
-Steiner says it shouldn’t matter, even if Vivi is like those mage dolls. Right on!
-They head out onto the deck. Lindblum is GINORMOUS. A whole city inside the castle. The Falcon Gate opens.
-Jesus. And I thought Alexandria was impressive. This place is amazing.
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Next time: Lindblum.
