"So you only found me a face, not a body?" he teases. "Well, I can see my body just fine, and the armour is not meant to be practical, it's meant to be intimidating."

Snort. "Armor can be practical and intimidating," she sniffs. "And your face comes attached to a body, but they're all pictures, and none of them are of you without clothes. ... Well, some of them are shirtless, but that's Pedro's fault, not mine."

"I see Pedro has the right priorities," he says, brightly. "Regardless, my defences are magical rather than physical, so more practical armour would not buy me much."

"They might buy you more hugs. I'm immune to spikes and fire! Other people aren't! Also they might buy you eyes that are not poked out by your shoulderpads when you raise your arms, which I hear is very useful for people."

He tries and fails to raise his arms above ninety degrees to demonstrate that the shoulder pads make it impossible to raise them that much in the first place. "If I'm in armour I do not often find myself in situations where hugs happen, and when I am in such situations I am usually not in armour. I was just wearing this now because the Queen specifically requested the Commander of the Pact, not James Orland."

"But you could conceivably need to raise your arms above ninety degrees in a combat situation. That could happen. What if you need to climb up a ladder? What then? Commander of the Pact is foiled by ladders."

Now he points his arms forward, taking a step back not to hit her, and raises them. In that position they can go a bit above his head. "Works for you?"

"No. Why do you even need ridiculously large spiked shoulder pads, anyway, are you a linebacker?"

"...a what?"

"A... person that professionally tackles people. In a sport. From my home. That I don't watch or really know anything about."

He laughs. "The answer to your question is, again, merely aesthetics."

Aestrix huffs, affronted.

He laughs some more and sits back down.

She sits, and she pouts.

"Fine, all right, continued storytime, go on." She waves her hand imperiously at him. Then she considers this, and adds, "... please."

"As you will," he says, bowing his head a little. "I was talking about the Queen's Fête. There were some more disasters involving Scarlet after that, and all of Rox, Braham, Marjory, and Kasmeer helped me with them. Caithe occasionally showed up; she said Scarlet knew a secret of hers, but we don't know what it was.

"Taimi we met when we were fighting one of Scarlet's constructs, a watchwork marionette. She's young, but much smarter than the average asura, and she admired Scarlet's work. It was... strange. But she's been a true ally and we would not have defeated Scarlet without her help."

"A good and proper adventuring party," says Aestrix, a little fondly.

"They are! We are currently investigating some things that with context you have given me are probably Mordremoth and that is as far into my story I have gotten to."

"All right, my turn then. So, yep, it's Mordremoth. The Zephyrites—for those playing along at home, the ones who snapped up Glint's residual energy and also one of her eggs—pick up a couple of sylvari once repairs have been completed. This... turns out to go poorly. Mordremoth forces the sylvari to sabotage the ship, and the entire thing comes crashing down."

"—are they alright? Do they survive?"

"I don't think they all make it out, but there are a lot of survivors, and they set up a camp. Their leader runs off with Glint's egg, because that was why Mordremoth brought the airship down in the first place. You follow after him, unfortunately just in time to watch him die, and he goes to hand the egg to you... Only for Caithe to show up like a ninja and steal it before you can get a hold of it, without any kind of explanation."

"What? Why? Did she get controlled by Mordremoth, too?"

"Not controlled, precisely, but influenced by. Caithe got a new Wyld Hunt. For those playing along at home, some sylvari get a, a mission upon their birth. Not by the Pale Tree, just as a part of who they are. All other sylvari have only gotten one. Caithe got to be a special snowflake and get a second; to protect the egg. With Mordremoth's voice messing with her perception of reality, she didn't know who to trust, so she only trusted the Wyld Hunt. And thus, she ran off with the egg."

"—I see."

"Yeah. Poor Caithe. Just so you know, that took like, three edits to get all of the information correct," sighs Aestrix. "Relaying information I have not personally experienced: a difficult thing."

He blinks. "I have to say it is somewhat disconcerting to know that my experience was edited and I never noticed." He shakes his head and smiles.