Madain Sari
-Eiko’s home.
-It’s a town in ruins. She treats it like a normal home, so the destruction must’ve happened a while ago.
-What a badass epithet for a town! FFIX is good at that. “Dark City Treno” and now “Village of the Lost Summoners.”
-Tons of moogles come out of the woodwork.
-MOG IS SO TINY – I wonder what’s up with the unique yellow coloring.
-And that’s not all. Mog can shrink down to pocket size on command to always stay with Eiko.
-Eiko really likes Zidane. I love that continued characterization, about how good Zidane is with kids. It fits him.
-She’s inquisitive as hell. Maybe it’s about hungering for human contact, if she grew up around moogles.
-Eiko wants to know if Dagger and Zidane are more than friends. He says yes: “a team.” He probably wants more than that, but it’s nice that he really seems to value being part of a team.
-Dagger seems… strange. Out of it. Tired. Maybe something about this being a town of lost summoners and her being a summoner.
-Where’s Vivi?
---
Vivi’s Feelings
-Luckily, there’s an ATE to answer that.
-He’s musing on what No. 288 told him about life and death. It’s got him fucked up. He never really thought of stopping as dying.
-Like, Vivi’s not asking small questions. He’s asking real heavy hitters. Where he comes from, what happens after death, etc.
---
Madain Sari – Zidane
-Found Libra. Virgo seems to be the key figure in the coin quotes, the figure that everyone is seeking.
-Poor Vivi.
---
Dagger’s Feelings
-Yeah, she’s thinking about the summoners.
-This is hard to take. Now that the eidolons were taken from her, it feels as if a piece of her is missing.
-This town feels familiar to her somehow. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was born here, is Eiko’s long lost aunt or sister or something, and Brahne took her to raise as her own for her power. But then again, I thought Brahne only changed after Dagger’s father died. Hm.
---
Eiko’s Feelings
-She calls Zidane her hero. Why? She barely knows him. And even if she’s scrambling for human contact, why latch onto Zidane and not Dagger?
-AH. A crush. She’s got a crush on Zidane, sees that he and Dagger aren’t an item yet, and wants to get between them before anything can happen. That’s cute and all to see from her perspective, but Zidane, don’t make me break out my “special hell” gif. Don’t pull an Edgar. Don’t even joke about it.
LOLOL
MOMATOSE: “But Eiko screws up a lot when she cooks.”
-She’s gonna cook Rock-Fisted Potato Soup. Her specialty.
-hahhaha
We get a montage of the foods she thinks about cooking, but then see that the moogles often think her cooking sucks. XD XD
-Tbh, if cooking is how you show love, you should spend some time with Quina. They’d be your friend forever.
-She sends out moogles to help find ingredients. I don’t really have a context to choose moogles for each role, so I send Chimomo to fish, Mocha to dig potatoes, and Momatose to help in the kitchen.
-OH GOD WHAT WAS CUTE JUST TURNED AWFUL. The moogles leave to their business. Eiko looks up to the sky: “Grandpa… I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
---
Madain Sari – Zidane
-Found a cave that’s restricted.
-Quina! They’re just exploring the town, not finding much to eat. Just rocks and sand here. They dive into the river for some water.
-Dagger is anxious.
-The food’ll be ready soon. Morrison…
AH DANGIT. It just hit me. I think the whole point of picking the specific moogles with my little information to make different parts of the dinner was supposed to be based on which moogle said they disliked or liked each meal. Crap. Oh well. Probably will miss out on bonus points or rewards for not paying attention to which moogle liked fish, which liked stew.
-Anyway. Morrison the moogle offers to take us to the Eidolon Wall before dinner.
---
Eiko’s Kitchen
-Cooking for 10. She’s not counting Quina though.
-I get the choice to get water for a number of people. It asks how many. I could put 10, the number Eiko listed, or I could try 11 and take Quina into account. Hm. I’ll go with 10.
-ok, eiko and moogles cooking is high on the “cutest things around” list.
-She caught a big fish. I get the choice to have Eiko help or not. I choose to do so.
-LOL THEY CAUGHT A QUINA
---
At the Eidolon Wall
-The Wall is what the moogle was protecting.
-Zidane gets Dagger. She’ll want to see this.
-With good reason. It’s a sacred wall, a painting made by the summoner tribe of every eidolon they ever encountered. I wonder what killed them. A rogue eidolon perhaps.
-Dagger recognizes Atomos and Bahamut and just gets overwhelmed by this whole display.
-The summoners saw the eidolons as guardians of the planet Gaia, and practiced/researched summoning to be closer with nature. The tribe migrated here 500 years ago. And then…
NO MOOGLE DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT
-Hard to make out the art from this angle. I see Bahamut, and two things that might be Ramuh and a phoenix eidolon.
---
Eiko’s Kitchen 2
-LOLOL – “Pale, white hair, strange clothes…” EIKO THINKS QUINA IS KUJA
-Oh, of course! Quina can help cook.
-She’s not cooking enough. I KNEW I should’ve taken Quina into account. (Though even then, given Quina’s skill at eating, probably more like 12 or 13.)
-I love this. We saw Quina as Quale’s student, and now as Eiko’s teacher. Quina’s always been in a bit of a comic relief role, and I like seeing them shine, seeing others find them valuable.
-The stove’s not getting hot enough. Oh shit, I think it might be time for Vivi to shine.
---
Dinner Time!
-Moco the moogle won’t say what happened to Eiko’s tribe.
-The food legit looks good. And Zidane likes it all.
-hjdfklasfhadlfhadjklsfad jesus. Zidane asked her where the other summoners are, specifically if they’re hiding underground.
EIKO: “Underground? Yeah.” THEY’RE FUCKING DEAD FHDJKLSFHDKLSFDS
-She’s been living with moogles since her grandpa died last year.
-A natural disaster struck 10 years ago. Her parents were among the survivors who fell in love in the aftermath and had her six years ago.
-hahaha, she’s playing up the tragedy of the story to score points with Zidane XD (…but remember, specialhell.gif)
-SHE JUST CALLED ZIDANE HER “BEAUTIFUL SHOOTING STAR” AND I’M DONE
-While on one hand, I’m thankful that Zidane isn’t even pretend flirting back (not being rude or anything though), it sucks for Eiko.
-Eiko’s got a ton of great old books here. No summoning books, but 500 year old first editions nonetheless.
-The Iifa Tree is sealed with an eidolon.
Huh. Does that mean that they woke the eidolon somehow but didn’t control it, and had to summon it before it could destroy stuff?
-Zidane asks her about helping them break the seal, but she refuses absolutely.
-YES! Found Kirman Coffee. Two coffees down for the airship quest, one to go. Burman.
-haha, Quina is like a motivational coach encouraging the moogle to catch more fish.
-We rest. I feel like this whole setpiece around dinner in the village is one of those famous FF things where the different options you pick could probably net a slew of different outcomes.
Madain Sari – Zidane
-Found a cave that’s restricted.
-Quina! They’re just exploring the town, not finding much to eat. Just rocks and sand here. They dive into the river for some water.
-Dagger is anxious.
-The food’ll be ready soon. Morrison…
AH DANGIT. It just hit me. I think the whole point of picking the specific moogles with my little information to make different parts of the dinner was supposed to be based on which moogle said they disliked or liked each meal. Crap. Oh well. Probably will miss out on bonus points or rewards for not paying attention to which moogle liked fish, which liked stew.
-Anyway. Morrison the moogle offers to take us to the Eidolon Wall before dinner.
---
Eiko’s Kitchen
-Cooking for 10. She’s not counting Quina though.
-I get the choice to get water for a number of people. It asks how many. I could put 10, the number Eiko listed, or I could try 11 and take Quina into account. Hm. I’ll go with 10.
-ok, eiko and moogles cooking is high on the “cutest things around” list.
-She caught a big fish. I get the choice to have Eiko help or not. I choose to do so.
-LOL THEY CAUGHT A QUINA
---
At the Eidolon Wall
-The Wall is what the moogle was protecting.
-Zidane gets Dagger. She’ll want to see this.
-With good reason. It’s a sacred wall, a painting made by the summoner tribe of every eidolon they ever encountered. I wonder what killed them. A rogue eidolon perhaps.
-Dagger recognizes Atomos and Bahamut and just gets overwhelmed by this whole display.
-The summoners saw the eidolons as guardians of the planet Gaia, and practiced/researched summoning to be closer with nature. The tribe migrated here 500 years ago. And then…
NO MOOGLE DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT
-Hard to make out the art from this angle. I see Bahamut, and two things that might be Ramuh and a phoenix eidolon.
---
Eiko’s Kitchen 2
-LOLOL – “Pale, white hair, strange clothes…” EIKO THINKS QUINA IS KUJA
-Oh, of course! Quina can help cook.
-She’s not cooking enough. I KNEW I should’ve taken Quina into account. (Though even then, given Quina’s skill at eating, probably more like 12 or 13.)
-I love this. We saw Quina as Quale’s student, and now as Eiko’s teacher. Quina’s always been in a bit of a comic relief role, and I like seeing them shine, seeing others find them valuable.
-The stove’s not getting hot enough. Oh shit, I think it might be time for Vivi to shine.
---
Dinner Time!
-Moco the moogle won’t say what happened to Eiko’s tribe.
-The food legit looks good. And Zidane likes it all.
-hjdfklasfhadlfhadjklsfad jesus. Zidane asked her where the other summoners are, specifically if they’re hiding underground.
EIKO: “Underground? Yeah.” THEY’RE FUCKING DEAD FHDJKLSFHDKLSFDS
-She’s been living with moogles since her grandpa died last year.
-A natural disaster struck 10 years ago. Her parents were among the survivors who fell in love in the aftermath and had her six years ago.
-hahaha, she’s playing up the tragedy of the story to score points with Zidane XD (…but remember, specialhell.gif)
-SHE JUST CALLED ZIDANE HER “BEAUTIFUL SHOOTING STAR” AND I’M DONE
-While on one hand, I’m thankful that Zidane isn’t even pretend flirting back (not being rude or anything though), it sucks for Eiko.
-Eiko’s got a ton of great old books here. No summoning books, but 500 year old first editions nonetheless.
-The Iifa Tree is sealed with an eidolon.
Huh. Does that mean that they woke the eidolon somehow but didn’t control it, and had to summon it before it could destroy stuff?
-Zidane asks her about helping them break the seal, but she refuses absolutely.
-YES! Found Kirman Coffee. Two coffees down for the airship quest, one to go. Burman.
-haha, Quina is like a motivational coach encouraging the moogle to catch more fish.
-We rest. I feel like this whole setpiece around dinner in the village is one of those famous FF things where the different options you pick could probably net a slew of different outcomes.
---
That Night
-Vivi’s outside, alone. Zidane joins him.
-Vivi wants to stop worrying like Zidane told him, but can’t. Zidane continues to win my love as one of my favorite FF protagonists by supporting Vivi, telling him there’s nothing wrong with feeling how he feels.
-Vivi just wants to stop feeling this way, and everything hurts.
-I get the sense that Zidane feels some of the frustration that Vivi does as well. He wants to protect his people, even though he may not be able to.
-We pan over to Eiko sitting on some stairs. She thinks of or sees something that confirms for her that Zidane is “the man for [her].”
-Ah. She’s listening into Zidane and Vivi, and takes his “you either do or you don’t” as “go get it, girl.”
-She overhears Zidane giving Vivi a tip to relax. An age-old…
wait wtf is going on
“An age-old ritual between male friends.” …I’m reasonably sure that they’re peeing outside together. I’ve been male my entire life, and I’m fairly sure this isn’t all that common, but whatever!
-oh good god. eiko hears the <tinkle tinkle tinkle>, shakes her head, and goes inside. XD
---
The Next Morning
-Quina’s staying behind in the village. Booooo.
-They think Eiko’s staying too, but she pops out from behind the ruins and surprises them. She’s coming. She’ll help break the seal.
-Dagger asks why Zidane is “so nice to everyone.” It feels like a bit of a non sequitur, which makes me think I missed something.
-I didn’t. Vivi noticed it too, and thinks Dagger might be mad. Why? She’s… she’s not jealous, is she?
-Ready to leave. Taking a quick last trip around the village first.
Found some writing that confirms that Mog and Eiko are the same age.
-Wish I could get a closer look at the eidolon paintings.
-Arrrgh! The game is tormenting me.
I see treasure chests across the river and can’t reach them. Tried for about five straight minutes to find a way across. No luck.
---
Next time: to the Iifa Tree. I wonder which eidolon is sealed inside. No good guesses beforehand.
