Which made it all the worse who happened to open the door.

Caius Dragelion, leader and co-founder of the Dragonblades alongside Celes, had stopped by Provo. Well, "stopped by" wasn't really the right word for it. Y'know, considering he had just fled Sonora at top speed and this was the closest place outside the borders of that awful hellscape. Caius was tired, still wearing that fancy Sonoran suit that caused him a world of discomfort, and more than eager to make as much distance from Sonora as possible. Unfortunately, circumstances dictated he needed to go back. But only after informing Yuna , who ran operations in Provo, that a potential Class B threat was likely going to be after her life. And then go all the way to Torensten to check on Celes, whom he hadn't seen in an entire year since their "blind date" had gone horribly wrong and she had shortly after gone on a vacation. That turned into a working vacation. In Provo. For a year.

Needless to say, he wasn't in the best of spirits. He genuinely wanted to take a long nap and hope that he'd forget all this insanity in the morning, but first he needed to return to Torensten. So after going through what was probably a bundle of drama with Yuna, he opened the door to what was more healing clinic than an actual Dragonblades base, just at the same moment someone knocked, and...

Stopped cold because yes, she looked and dressed exactly like Celes.

Caius stared at her with mouth hung open for a moment as he tried to find even the smallest, remotest of words to say. "I..." really was the best he could get, before he began to notice that some of the features and even her posture, were different. If it hadn't been for already meeting Celes' twin sister, perhaps he wouldn't have. But he'd already made the mistake once, instinct drove him to notice now that...

It wasn't Celes.

Seriously. How many doppelgangers did this woman have?

Caius loosed a long breath as he settled himself. "My apologies, I was stunned by..."

He almost made a quip. Humor was his method of coping, and boy, did Caius need a LOT of effort towards coping right now. But the joke of "your radiant beauty" faded before it even got past his tongue because as much as he would have meant it as a quip? That people in the stories he'd read would say it as a quip? The aforementioned disaster told him that was the last thing he should say. Especially to someone who looked just like the dead center of that disaster.

He was never using that quip again.

"... You look like someone I know."

Quick, Caius, renew your focus and change that subject. Act like nothing's wrong. Be a professional. You're good at that.

"Do you need anything at the clinic? Miss Yuna is quite swamped, but if you're wounded, I can get you situated until she or another healer can see you."

Caius didn’t have enough left in him to do this sober. She started talking about blessings from some god he didn’t know, and about Eorzea…

Oh. Eorzea. A Celes duplicate from Alex’s world. Fantastic. Just the absolute last thing he needed right now. And apparently she had met Celes already. Well, that wasn’t too much of a surprise considering she was their primary representative in Provo. The whole town probably knew who she was, that stern attitude of hers had never been subtle. Apparently Celes #3 was called Renitra. There were bandits, because of course it was bandits. There were Scions which he was far too tired to even try to understand. But one thing he did understand was her being an outlander whom had nowhere to go. And wanted to join the Dragonblades.

As much as Caius really wanted to hurry to Torensten and finally ditch this uncomfortable monkey suit, he knew he couldn’t just leave her here.

But after the ramble, she started bowing. Why was she bowing? Was that what he looked like when he bowed? Boy, was he tired. She’d also been lamenting about her hair… Or it seemed to be lamenting as far as his tired brain could tell. And Caius lacked the social skills to help a woman in a hair crisis.

“Your hair is fine. I’m sure Celes is flattered. Probably” was the best answer he could think of. Celes was probably not, in fact, flattered. But what did he know about hair trends? Nothing. If Celes took issue, that was her mess to sort out. What Caius did know how to do, however, was conduct business.

“We’re mercenaries,” he made sure she knew right away. Celes had probably told her, but Caius wanted to be thorough. “We fight monsters, sometimes bandits, for hire. Sometimes we’re security detail for merchants. So we’re probably not exactly like your… Scions. We don’t serve a government body nor have any obligation… Though our aid when it comes to emergencies has become something of an expectation.”

Which is where it became complicated. “As I’m sure Celes told you. Many of us aren’t in it for the money. While the mercenary side of things helps ensure we make a living, most of us just want to help people. Many of us were once soldiers, knights, adventurers. People who have suffered and seen suffering, and don’t want to watch others suffer the same. When someone’s in an emergency and can’t reasonably afford a sellsword… Most of us just do it, because we want to. When threats like giant monsters, or crazed outworlders with horrible powers become a threat, the people turn to us. And we handle it. Because we want to.”

And there’s the rub. “So on one end. If a place to work and to get the first scoop when people are in a bind are what you want, the Dragonblades maybe for you. We commonly employ outworlders, so we have resources to help educate you on navigating this new world. Celes wrote it herself, she’d probably make a killing as an author if she sold it.”

Maybe he’d suggest that sometime…

“On the other. There’s a lot of expectation for us to step in when things get dangerous. Which they do. A lot. Extremely dangerous. Survival isn’t guaranteed. Don’t sign that application lightly.”

Caius shrugged slightly at her response. He supposed she was more or less right? He did what he did because he thought it was right and he wanted to do it. He honestly didn't understand some of what she was saying, like the whole Children Of The Land thing. But he also could just be exhausted from the long trip here, and telling Yuna that her summon could be dangerous and that split personality Alex was probably on his way to kill it and possibly her. He also really needed a shower. Seriously.

Still, she was sincere and he could respect that. And if she had already met Celes...

"Tell you what. I'm on my way back to Torensten. If you've met with Celes before, you might as well go with me" the mercenary offered then. "I'll chat with her and see what she thinks of your abilities, based off what she's seen. If we haven't seen enough, we'll put you through whatever testing will satisfy both of our criteria. We don't usually just let people in without some matter of testing. We need to know that the people who work with us are people we can trust with our lives" Caius explained, hoping that would be something that could understand well. "The Dragonblades protect each other, so we try to be as thorough as we can be. And it'd be good to know your capabilities in battle as well, so we don't feel like we're sending you to die."

Mercenaries in their employ had died, though it was rare. It was something Caius wanted to avoid where possible.

"I'll be leaving soon. So if you're serious about this, I would make any travel arrangements you need to within the hour."

So basically just about everyone's first encounter with the steely-gazed General of the Dragonblades. Caius shrugged when she stated this, not seeming all that bothered. "You survived. That's a good start" Caius commented, though he couldn't shake the feeling he had met a Maria before... For a moment, something came back. Just a slight inclination. And he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end.

He was way too tired to process all that about a time portal, and too tired to even apologize for not understanding. Perhaps it was best that he didn't.

Caius was ready to go, so her being five minutes late was definitely noticed. But it was what it was, even if she was essentially wasting time that he had intended to spend getting back to Torensten, he needed to rest anyway. Yuna had wanted him to stay the night, but he had declined in favor of getting back to work and cleaning up the mess in Torensten as soon as possible. She claimed something about nerves and fiddling with something. He didn't understand that either, but at least they could now get on with it. "Then let's get going. I've already hired a set of chocobos, so it should make the trip go quickly" he responded as he would lead her to the chocobo stables. Caius had needed to pivot around and rent a second last minute for Renitra, but that was fine. If Celes found her capable, they would have another member.

With the threats they now had to face, they might need all the help that they can get. Caius mounted his chocobo and waited for her to do the same before he would answer her question.

"My name is Caius," he spoke then, scratching behind the ears of his chocobo as he would get them moving. He didn't know if Celes had told her that Caius was the leader of the guild alongside her, but he had a habit of not stating his rank right away. "Fair warning, you may be tested further when we arrive. Considering your meeting, Celes may decide to do so herself."