And Khloe Was Her Name’o

Rosetta stares back at her in trepidation as approaches the young Miqo’te with dirty blonde hair. The small stall she occupies next to Idyllshire’s cultural center is a sort of anchor point for adventurers around the star. Somehow Khloe had managed to get her tiny paws on a literal fortune of Rowena’s favored Allagan tomestones, rare items of extraordinary value. Whether through some maniacal prank orchestrated by the ruthless business woman, or perhaps some sort of bizarre blackmail the young Miqo’te had performed, Khloe Aliapoh is frequented by more adventurers in a week trying to get their hands on this small treasures, than all the clubs and inns across the 5 major city states.

An odd if somewhat cruel game the felicitous feline plays, she hands each adventurer a journal with a variety of tasks to be completed. Usually something of great difficult or import for the realm, each task corresponds with a stamp on a 4×4 grid. Collect nine stamps, and you are rewarded with either gil or tomestones, a fine prize in and of itself. However, if those nine stamps manage to form a line or two or three on the grid, even greater prizes are abound. Some of the rarest items in the realm can be purchased after completing these lines, and adventurers pin their hopes to that one magical day when they get three lines…

“Khloe…” Rosetta says, a pleading tone in her voice, “we’ve known each other a long time, haven’t we?” She asks with a forced smile, masking a nervous excitement underneath.

…The trouble being, is you don’t know which task corresponds to which stamp on the grid until Khloe herself reveals them. Thus occasionally leading to great trepidation as what seems like a mortal lock…

“Yay, it’s Miss Rosetta!” Khloe declares excitedly as the thunder storm begins to pick up.

She smiles, interjecting. “Rose is fi—”

Khloe leans in, excitedly pumping her fists. “Can Khloe tell you something?”

Rosetta’s patience begins to wear thin as a line forms behind her, others impatiently waiting to have their stamps filled. “S—Sure, but about my seals—”

Khloe’s eyes flair up, almost bulging out of her head. “Khloe’s been waiting for you for such a long, long, long time—almost forever!” She jumps, ecstatically, almost falling off her foot stool. “Khloe thinks your stories are the bestest stories in the whole wide world!”

“Look, lady,” an Elezan man interjects, clearly annoyed with Rosetta, “we all gotta suffer this, ok? Just hurry up.”

Rosetta hangs her head for a moment before handing over the journal. She’d hope that waiting until later in the night might give her a private moment with the young Miqo, but to no avail. She sighs, “Go easy on me?”

Khloe quickly thumbs through the journal, smiling as she notes the various adventures the Highlander had been on lately. “Ooooh!” She hums as she begins to apply her stickers. Rosetta’s hopes begin to lift, as she thinks about the pet Anteater she’d wanted for some time now or, 12 willing, a new set of armor. Khloe smiles, tossing the journal into her box. “These are a lot of stories…”

“Uh huh?” Rosetta nods, the excitement almost crippling her.

“But… hmmm… They just seem so…not, like, connected with each other or anything? But Khloe knows you tried your bestest—”