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Annabel Ashcroft

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Interlude 19: The foolishness of youth.

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Annabel paced her room, fretting. What she had heard from the silly girl was NOT good. WHY was she doing this, NOW? Did the recent battle rattle her THAT much? Unlike the others, Young Minfilia had no experience with dealing with things like that. Hell, Annabel herself had no real experience dealing with battles like that. Honestly, she had NO idea how SHE got though it unscathed. She secretly hoped her sleep would not be wracked with nightmares of it for days to come.

Stopping her pacing, Annabel took a deep sigh and looked up. She REALLY did NOT want to do this, but she had little choice. She cared about that young girl and didn't want to see her make a stupid mistake because of a foolish passionate decision. Annabel had done enough of those in her own life to know what a folly it was.

"Minfilia," she called out, "are you there, I need to talk with you." There was no answer so Annabel continued. "Minnie, come ON, I NEED to talk with you NOW. Look, this is a chance to get the mature me and not the Bitch, but if you DON"T come that WILL change, so show yourself.....please?"

After a moment Annabel saw the tell tale light and the spirit of Minfilia Warde popped into existence in front of the young Blonde. She floated down to eye level and crossed her arms. "Wow, Annabel Ashcroft actually saying 'please', this MUST be important."

"Minnie," Annabel began, "don't start, I don't want to fight, not tonight. I need to have a serious talk with you."

Minfilia looked taken aback, surprised. "Wow.....it's about time you finally took my presence seriously Annabel." She changed her tone, "ok, you have got my attention, what is it you need?"

Annabel herself looked surprised, "You don't know? were you not there when Young Minnie made her decision? You DO know what she plans to do, right?"

"Annabel, what do you want me to say? Minfilia is her OWN person, I have NO influence over her, hell I don't WANT to have influence over her. I can't control her actions."

"Minnie!" Annabel threw her hands up in the air. "She is going to try and SUMMON you INTO her! She wants you INSIDE her to use your full power to help find the Lightwarden. You DO know what that might DO to her, right?"

Minfilia looked at Annabel with a serious look on her pale face. "Of COURSE I know what could happen Annabel, how could I not?"

"And you're OK with THIS? MINNIE....."

"Annabel, of course I am not OK with it, but what can I DO? Refuse the summons? She is a PART of me you silly girl, a part of my essence. I cannot 'refuse' her if she wants me there. I have no choice but to go and inhabit her body alongside her."

"And you KNOW what it might DO to her, right?" Annabel paced a bit, then stopped and pointed a finger at the spirit. "Tell me the truth, DO you want to override her? Will you try to take control of her body?"

Minfilia looked aghast. "Annabel, HOW can you SAY that? You KNOW how I feel about the whole thing! I DON'T want to kill her, I WANT her to LIVE! But, like I said before, I have NO choice, I HAVE to go into her if she wills it. I will TRY not to harm her essence, her soul, but one never knows what will happen when it is initiated."

"You know this whole process of yours is garbage, right?" Annabel just shook her head and continued. "You people make this essence, this 'being' to represent you and you have no PROPER way to DEAL with things like this."

"Well Annabel," Minfilia retorted, "'things' like this have never HAPPENED before with the previous Minfilias. We did NOT have the Scions here and more importantly, we did not have YOU here to influence her. She is making all these decisions based on YOUR actions, so this is VERY uncharted territory with her."

"And THAT'S your 'excuse'", Annabel retorted back, "'uncharted territory'? Come on Minnie, was there NO plan in place for this?"

"Believe it or not Annabel, no there wasn't. I can't read a Minfilias mind, even if she IS a reincarnation of me. They will go and do their OWN thing, make up their OWN minds, and we just have to deal with it the best we can."

"Well, right now I am NOT dealing with this very well." Annabel sighed, "Minfilia, I am worried about her, I am SCARED. I DON'T want to see her get hurt, see her be.....taken over by you."

Minfilia stayed silent for a moment, thinking. "Annabel, I can't make any guarantees, but I will try my best not to have my influence override hers. That's the best I can do, I'm sorry."

There was a knock on the door. Annabel turned to it, no surprise on her face and said, "yes?"

"Milady, the others have left, Thancred said to please meet with him before you head over to the rendezvous, he is waiting for you in Lakeland."

"Will do, please tell him I will will head over there post haste."

"Very good." The sound faded and Annabel turned back to Minfilia. "No surprise on what HE wants to talk about. Thancred is going to be tortured by this you know."

Minfilia's face fell and she gave a forlorn sigh. "I know, there's no helping it, it needs to be done, but Twelve, it's going to kill him inside,.....again.......
Oh Thancred," she whispered softly, "I'm so sorry....."

This was a new side to Minfilia, one Annabel never saw from the spirit. She only knew the bitch, not the woman. Why WAS that? Maybe she should try to change that more, find out who Minfilia REALLY was. Isn't that what friends....do?

"Minfilia, um...hopefully it wont be that bad. Hopefully it will all go well and not be too painful for.....well, anyone. Just pray to the Gods and that Hydealyn will give her blessing." It took a lot for Annabel not to cringe at that. She still had an internal turmoil from what she had just learned about the Crystal and she was STILL trying to sort it all out.

Minfilia forced a smile for Annabel's sake. "Annabel, thank you, I hope you are right. As you say, all we can do is pray and hope everything goes well." She floated upwards, "Well, he is waiting for you so I will take your leave. Be careful with this and protect her, for she very much needs you."

Minflila was surprised at those words, but she had to face facts. Despite Thancred's devotion to the young version of her, Annabel was the only one really powerful enough to truly keep her safe when it was most needed.

Annabel nodded as she looked up at Minnie. "You know I will. I promise you Minnie, no harm will come to her if I can help it. I have seen too many die to those damn Sin Eater things, she will NOT be one of them."

A genuine smile appeared on the spirit's lips and Minflila's face appeared more relaxed, more relieved somehow. "I know. Good luck Annabel, and show me the woman I know you can be."

With that, Minfilia popped from view, leaving Annabel alone once more.

"The woman she's knows I can be", the young Blonde said half to herself. "Huh, and here I thought all she thinks of me as 'useless'. You are just full of surprises today Minfilia Warde."

Gathering her things, Annabel prepared to leave. It was back to that damned cold desert again, who knew WHAT awaited her there. One thing was for sure though, Annabel would make DAMN sure every one of her companions would make it back, even the ones with foolish ideas in their pretty blonde heads.



Addendum:

People sometimes ask why it takes me so long to get through the various sections of the MSQ. It is because of things like this.

For most people going through the story, when they watch the various events and cutscenes, they don't think much of them. It is just a little interlude pushing the story then it's back to the action. Some find them an annoyance and skip it altogether.

When I see a scene though, it is a very different feeling. I pay attention to what is happening to the characters and look for things I can use in my writing and recounting of the MSQ. I also look for things I can use for character development, which is how this story came into being.

Young Minfilia's speech stirred my muse, and I knew I HAD to write this exchange between Annabel and Minfilia before I could go any further with the story. I was ALL set yesterday to push through the MSQ and get stuff done. But after seeing that cutscene, there was no way I could NOT write up Annabel confronting Minnie about Young Minnie's decision.

In fact everything I have been witnessing after the forest has been stirring up ideas. That battle was BRUTAL as well as the aftermath. I would like to write THAT up too in a journal entry and still might. But I REALLY want to get going go I can join my friends and start doing end content, I know they really want me there.

But with the story going where it is going, there are just soooo many ideas, sooo many potential blog entries it seems. I may get really bogged down by them and not be able to get this done till next year some time.

Well, we'll see what happens. I am really enjoying writing up Shadowbringers, and if it means providing me with a ton of good content and slowing me down, then so be it.


Comments (3)

This comment has been deleted.

Siglinde Skysworn

Sargatanas [Aether]

Aaaah I read this before bed but wanted to mull it over before posting my thoughts!

So, the thing that struck me about this entry is that Mini-fillia proves a uniting factor for Annabel and Minfillia. Annabel admits she is scared and says please, and Minfillia does not bitch about Annabel so much. Instead, they are both trying to solve the problem in earnest.

In retrospect I should not be surprised, but it's really endearing to see that both of them are so motherly towards Mini-fillia, lol.

Siglinde Skysworn

Sargatanas [Aether]

Annabel called Minfillia "friend", although I admit that in what I have read of Annabel's Journey the two did not really strike me as friendly. Yes, some friends bicker all the time, but I always felt there was some genuine mean-spiritedness between them. In this entry for the first time I felt there is finally something they can bond over (even though they don't come to a conclusive solution yet)!

Siglinde Skysworn

Sargatanas [Aether]

This is one of very, very few "serious Annabel" entries with Minfillia in it, so it is fitting that it has a lot of implications for character development.

Knowing what happens to all these characters in the MSQ and your plans for them, I'm very curious to see how all this will play out, it's super exciting!
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