TW: pet death.
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Hunter in Light and Shadow (1-5)
-At noon, I should return to the Residences to find a man named Amand for a woman in love.
-The cat-eared kid now says, “Who... am I?” Maybe I can now interact with the South Station cat.
-I pursue Noel into the Warrens, to the door that was previously closed (bros).
-AHA! Now I use Seger’s crest to slip past the Etro guards. Sorry I doubted you, Seger.
-Lumina literally skips behind me. I like her a lot.
-She’s confused by why I’d chase him here. “See, there’s only one person Noel ever loved. And she’s long gone.”
Little recap of XIII-2, and how crappy of a time Noel had.
-Noel’s still waiting to reunite with Yeul as she promised. I’ll apparently understand more when I see the Oracle Drive.
-This north section of the Warrens, the Den of Shadows, is confusing as heck.
LIGHTNING: “Time can’t be stopped.”
ALSO LIGHTNING: *uses Chronostasis*
-I find Noel watching the Oracle Drive. It’s the Lightning vs. Noel battle scene from before, with an aftermath where he frolics in a field with Yeul. That’s why he’s pursuing the prophecy so hard.
-He accidentally unleashed the chaos, but Snow never judged him for it. Neither did Hope. Both fought alongside him after XIII-2.
-Not like it mattered. 500 years later, the world’s almost done.
-Lightning tries to take the blame, but it doesn’t even matter to Hope anymore. He just wants to move on from this world, make the new future the Oracle Drive shows him.
Dude, have you ever heard any prophecy ever? They’re all wicked, tricksy, false.
-He clearly feels bad that he’ll have to kill Lightning.
Battle time… but just in cutscenes. She overpowers him with her inhumanity.
LIGHTNING: “I’m going to fight for as long as it takes, give whatever it takes. Even if it’s my humanity… But you’re different. You don’t have it in you to kill me. You’re still human.”
-Jesus. I feel like Noel should be saving Lightning, not the other way around.
-And the tables turn. LIGHTNING attacks NOEL. And then NOEL is the one who fends her off, saying he’ll create a new world where everyone – including Lightning – will live together.
-Time for the actual boss fight.
-THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I love that fight. Lots of back and forth, learning when to guard and when to counter. He jumped around and feinted so much that the guard timing was tricky.
LIGHTNING: “Do your worst. Yeul is waiting for you.”
-Noel gives a final charge at Lightning with everything he’s got. Jumps into the air, hurls his sword… and hits the Oracle Drive.
NOEL: “Yeul… She wouldn’t… this isn’t what she would want.”
THANK GOD. Finally, someone about to do something horrible for someone else’s sake wonders whether that person would actually want that thing done for their sake.
-The Oracle Drive starts to flicker and YEUL’S SPIRIT EMERGES.
“Noel, you did the right thing. We’ll meet again soon. I promise.” She vanishes. I’m optimistic that we’ll see her in whatever new world awaits at endgame.
-Lightning shares her vision of paradise. Nothing too magical. Just ordinary people doing their best to make the world better.
What’s more magical than that?
[Later edit: As I think about this line, I have a new Probably Poor Prediction for how the game will end. I think we’ll end up fighting Bhunivelze and giving up HIS version of a new world. We’ll disperse the Chaos, release the “saved” souls, and end by rebuilding this world.]
-Noel’s giving up the Shadow Hunter persona.
-Luxerion’s main quest completed, woot!
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The Soul of a Cat
[Later edit: I did this quest concurrently with another Luxerion quest about their cathedral’s saint. I’ll address that one next session. Found this quest near South Station.]
-OH MY GOD THE CAT (who I thought was a skunk) TALKS. Her name is Gem and I love her.
-She’s not a cat on the inside.
LIGHTNING: “This is where you tell me about some bizarre episode that put your soul into a cat’s body.”
GEM: “Exactly! You’re good.” LOLOLL
-The person inside Gem used to be her loving owner. Then Gem died. The owner spent decades seeking a way to bring Gem back to live, when Lumina arrived.
Of course. OF COURSE that’s how you got transported into the cat’s body.
-Lumina tricked the owner into drinking a strange potion, and… well, it revived Gem. Technically.
-If I find Starlit Spice and wave it under the owner’s former body, they’ll awaken as themselves.
I feel confident in next steps. The Starlit Spice is probably from the potions person in the Warrens, and the confused “Who… am I?” person outside the Warrens must be the owner.
-Bingo. Rubrio the alchemist gives me the spice.
“The scent of the antidote has a certain… power over the feline species. Take every precaution! Avoid all cats while this is in your possession.”
This quest keeps getting better and better. Apparently, the spice drives them into a murderous frenzy.
Or purrderous frenzy?
Get it? cause purr? PURRDE
-anyway here we go. The cats steal the spice from me at first – they are FAST – but the second time, I’m ready and I sprint around them, waking up the owner.
-His name is Ronan. He looks like a kid, but I have to remember that nobody in this world is really a kid. He’s happy to be back in his body, but still devastated to not have Gem.
-This is brutal. Really, really brutal. He loves his cat so much. He spent decades of his life working to reunite with her. He’d give his own life for her.
SPIRIT OF GEM: “But that’s not what I want.”
The spirit of his cat is contacting him. [Later edit: it’s also possible this is Lumina providing a kind sort of closure, but I doubt it. I think this is really the cat. Or maybe I just hope it is.]
“I’m here to tell you I want you to live, master. If you die, there will be no one left in this world who remembers me. I lived a short but purrfect life. You treated me with love. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
IM FUCKING CRYING HJDFKLSHFDJKLS
“I’ll always be with you in your heart and in your memories. I want you to be happy, just like you were when we were together.”
-He’s grateful. He even thanks Lumina. Her mischief brought him peace – and probably saved his life.
It sounds like he was about to sacrifice his life in some foolish alchemical last ditch effort to bring back Gem before Lumina stepped in with her potion.
-My reward is the black cat ears adornment.
If you didn’t think I’d immediately put them on Lightning, think again.
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Next time: Aremiah’s quest for Luxerion’s Saint.
