2019-08-18: One Of Those Indescribable Things
- Log: One Of Those Indescribable Things
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Thunder Plains
- Date: August 18, 2019
- Summary: Amidst the eternal storm of the Thunder Plains, Citan, Elly, and Fei have a discussion -- on Spira, Spira's history, Emeralda, recent events, and what they should do now.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Travel across the Thunder Plains is ever difficult, if due to the weather alone.
Rain patters against the windows of the rest stop; every so often lightning flashes across the sky, echoed soon after by a roar of thunder.
Citan watches the rain, his cup of tea seemingly forgotten on the table in front of him. It's possible it's going cold by now.
"It does seem as if it is getting worse," he remarks after a moment, to the woman seated across from him. "I suppose it will make it all the worse when we do venture out again." He smiles, if ruefully, then turns his head to regard Elly. "But I had meant to ask you... how have you been? Fei had suggested that you were, ah, doing better for your exercises..."
He folds his hands loosely on the table before him.
His tea, it seems, continues to be neglected.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I wonder why exactly it does this here," Elly says. "It isn't how weather usually works, is it? Do you think perhaps all of these metal antennae -"
She gestures with a half-eaten Al Bhed sandwich, spicy meat and pickled vegetables wrapped in a flatbread recently baked. She gestures out past the awnings, towards the Thunder Plains themselves.
"Do you think perhaps they don't just catch the lightning? Perhaps they cause it... maybe it's some kind of an energy feedback collector..."
She then looks towards Citan, blinking slowly as she is caught mid-sandwich bite. She chews her food before swallowing and then answers, "Oh - yes; I have been. It's still not... the way it was, but it feels a little less..."
She trails off. It's one of those indescribable things. "The other day, I was even able to support Emeralda, using her own Ether, a little bit. Mostly I was just showing her a technique to shape some rocks..."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"She's a sweet kid," Fei says on Emeralda though if he's not careful he might end up spoiling her. Emeralda represents something to Fei he didn't think he'd ever really have: A future. He lets Elly speak for herself on how she's actually doing, though, because he doesn't speak for her! Also because he can't really read her mind (at the moment). He only really knows what he's observed. "Though I'm starting to think her fish control is better than her ether control." He can't help that small quip though. He's pretty impressed with how rapidly Elly has learned the trade. She's had plenty of time to learn, he supposes.
Fei hasn't forgotten his own tea. It calms him so he drinks it. He is used to Citan 'getting around eventually' to his food/drink so he doesn't bother h im about the teacup either.
"I wonder what they'd be powering." Fei admits. "Gotta be something big right?" Then again if they were just left there for a while, it's possible anything they were going to do has long since burnt out or failed.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I had been wondering similarly," the doctor says, inclining his head in a short nod. "It could be that the storm is simply natural to the area, though I cannot say I am familiar with the subject of a storm lasting for, apparently, hundreds of years if local legend is correct on the matter." He rubs at his chin, off and away on the puzzle of the local phenomena. "Perhaps it might be some effect of the local terrain..."
His brow furrows, though.
"Or, yes, something else altogether." He pauses, gazing out the window; lighting flashes as it strikes a distant tower. "From what I have gathered, the level of technology in this land appears to have once been rather advanced. It is unfortunate that it has been difficult to learn very much about any of it..." he trails out, readjusting his glasses.
Before turning his attention on Elly.
"Hmm. I see. It may be some time yet before you recover." He hesitates a moment, as if he were about to say something more. His attention drifts towards Fei instead, though, and he remains silent, his expression gaining a faint pensive cast. "Do not overdo it, Elly. You must allow your body to heal itself."
Emeralda comes up.
"So she has been adjusting well? I admit I did have some concerns, considering the state in which we had encountered her. In that Gear..."
He again folds his hands, gazing into the depths of his teacup.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Even if this area was prone to storms," Elly says, "it would break at times, wouldn't it? Even the cloudiest place isn't that disastrous every day of the year. Lunar might be different, of course..."
It seems not to persuade her. She eats her sandwich, looking at Fei then, as she pinkens at the cheeks again at the complement to her ability to crush pisc. "Ahh... I just suppose I had a talent that I never knew about. It's just luck, really."
"We saw what I think were electric lights in the depth of that place," Elly tells Citan. "Not just the little glowing spheres that are rather common - I mean similar to the ones that you see in ruins, or.. other places."
She dips her head at the instructions, and finishes her sandwich.
As she dabs her fingers on the napkin, she says, "Emeralda has enjoyed this place. I'm so glad that we've been able to let her have a period where she didn't have to run from anybody... seeing her curiosity grow is... I don't know how to describe it. It gives me hope, I suppose."
"..." Gears, Elly thinks. Power being collected.
It doesn't connect for her, not immediately.
"What have you been up to, Doctor?" Elly then asks, reaching for her tea.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I guess when a giant whale blows everything up every ten years it's hard to stay too technologically advanced." Fei admits faintly. "Hundred year storm? That I don't remember. What legend is that?" Fei asks. It's probably pretty unsurprising that Fei hasn't delved too deep into local legend beyond that which was pretty evident on the surface. Still, something tells him it isn't exactly impossible though so localized...it is certainl strange.
He smiles at Elly's analysis. "Yeah... It's nice, isn't it? I was really worried that with everything going on with Solaris...and me... that she'd have a much rougher time--"
He pauses for a moment. "Oh um. Elly--" He looks to her. "Maybe we should, uh, mention that to Citan? I mean, what happened with, uh, Loren?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I have heard that several of the towers are in disrepair," the good doctor replies. "However, that is neither here nor there. It may be that it is as the local story has it: that these towers are the one thing permitting passage through this area. Or it may be as you have suggested: that they are instead the cause of this storm. Unfortunately, the very nature of the plains makes investigating the matter difficult..." He fidgets again with his glasses, glancing but once out the window.
"You did?" This mention -- the lights in the ruins -- gets his attention. "Hmm. So they are not like the ones you have seen in other parts of Spira? I wonder if they might have lost that technology."
More like 'other places' are they...
"Hundred year..." Understanding, apparently, blooms in Citan's gaze. He shakes his head. "No, rather, what I meant to say is that storms like this one appear to have been documented in local legend for hundreds of years. It is said, incidently, that the land here is named for a long-passed summoner known as Gandof. Interestingly," he adds, shifting in his seat to loosely fold his arms across his chest, "It is also said that it was an Al Bhed man who build the towers. Given his people's apostate status and the undeniable fact that the towers are Machina, it is rather interesting that Yevon chooses to make use of them." This is said with a disarming and in fact rather bland smile. "I suppose, 'needs must', even when it comes to doctrine."
What has he been up to?
"This and that. Mainly, I have been learning about Spira." He smiles, a little ruefully. "I must admit, I am, ah, at a disadvantage in a land like this. Even if we had landed elsewhere in Lunar, I would have had Fei's stories to go on. Here, on the other hand..." Citan shakes his head and shrugs smally, almost helplessly.
"She is a little older than Midori -- to look at her, that is," he says, on the subject of Emeralda. "Though," he adds, shaking his head, "she is hardly as shy as Midori can be. For all the years we lived in Lahan, Fei, I think you may have been the only one she opened up to, even taking into account the other children of her age." His expression grows a touch distant, as if something were on his mind. But only for the moment. "Whatever Emeralda had experienced while in their hands," he says at last, "it appears it has not left a mark on her psyche."
Hope, is it...
And then Fei brings up a recent incident.
"What are you talking about, Fei? Did something happen?" He glances between the both of them, as if he could extract more details from their faces alone.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Heh," Elly says, since it's not exactly... funny, curious at best.
She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "Mm," she says.
'That.'
Loren.
Elly engages with the other topic, first. "I don't understand their prohibitions very clearly... I suppose I don't have to worry about offending anyone, since this place is run by the Al Bhed people, but it seems so arbitrary. I wonder if it's more about creating new ones? I don't really know. There might be some logic that makes sense if you grew up hearing it..."
Elly sips at her tea. And she looks at it. "Ah... Well..."
The camera pans up, towards a stormy sky.
And pans back down, showing a still image of the area around Lake Macalania. "Related to... our projects with the Wolves, Fei and I went to Lake Macalania. I was also going to catch some cold-water fish for a person in Guadosalam. We ran into Loren Voss, there... I think I've mentioned him in the past. He was in Jugend at the same time that I was. I... I had thought we got along, even if he wasn't ever going to like me, and..."
Elly's face crumples partway for a moment. She takes a deep breath, lets it out.
The still image, were it true, is now of Loren having drawn his blade. "Loren tried to tell me to 'come back with him.' I... suppose that suggests that he was with someone. Perhaps a Gebler force arrived here, through Rhadamanthus's tricks, the same way the Tzadkiel crashed in Glenwood. (That was the name of that ship they used, Fei, just so you know...)"
"I refused... I wanted to part ways. He didn't take it well. He called me a traitor and he attacked, and..."
"He was hurting Fei, who was trying to protect me, and..."
"In the end, he used Ether to try to attack, but the ground gave way."
"And... when we came out of the rock... we... we couldn't find where he was. I don't know if he sank into the lake..."
The camera swings down...
... to reveal Elly, her face scrunching up again. "I don't know why he was so angry, I... I don't expect him, I didn't expect him to like me, but he was -- he was really gifted, and now..."
Her head slumps forwards.
"... I left his sword there... where I saw him last... I... I know he'd probably hate it, that I'm thinking like this of him... I can even imagine him saying, 'I don't want your pity, van Houten,' or something like that..."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
If Elly was able to get along with him, Fei thinks, shouldn't he have tried harder to get along with him? It seemed like anything he did would piss him off, though, and he knows himself well enough that he can't just take barbed words without shouting back eventually. If he could avoid that kind of reaction he wouldn't be in the situation he is now as it is in the first place.
"Yeah," Fei says. "I mean, we never got along but it's not like I wanted him to die or anything," Not too often anyway. "Maybe he survived, though... and either way, I bring this up because if he's here then--yeah, there might be more of Gebler forces here."
There'd be a flashback to his pleasant walk with Krelian and Elly if he even had the slightest inkling of that incoming surprise.
"I'm pretty sure I've seen them using guns... the Al Bhed say they pretty much do whatever they want so long as it's machina they can control--and well, they were all too happy to work with the Al Bhed to fight Sin with until...that didn't work."
He frowns. "I feel bad for them, having to be second class citizens for...for no real reason!"
His cheeks have pinkened briefly when Elly mentioned how Loren was hurting him--yeah true, but he has his pride too sometimes but he lightens up a bit upon hearing about Midori.
Though not too much because he's pretty aware as to why Citan hasn't seen so much of his daughter as of late.
"Midori..." Fei begins.
...
"Well, I guess I made myself enough of a nuisance that she had to speak up. When this is over..."
He trails off, because he's not even sure if it wll ever be over but he seems a little down there, thinking about the lost people of Lahan. There were survivors and he hadn't gone looking for them. It wouldn't have been right. But now he kind of...wishes he could see them agai.
But no. He doesn't have that right. He can only hope they'll be okay. Even Midori and Dan.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Perhaps. I only have an outsider's perspective, of course," Citan says, inclining his head once in a nod at her comment that it may be a matter of cultural practices that permit what seems to be a paradox at a glance. "Perhaps the injunction does not apply when it comes to something already constructed..." His gaze drifts towards Fei on that comment of 'second-class citizens'.
He does not comment; his eyes hood and that may be enough.
And Elly, then...
Elly tells a story of survival. Of an unwished for clash against an old schoolmate. Of divisions, and unforeseen hatreds brought bubbling to the surface.
Given what they know about Doctor Uzuki's past -- of life in Solaris -- perhaps they would not be surprised to learn that he has seen similar enough tales play out before.
But say what you will about Citan Uzuki -- he is a good listener. He doesn't interject or ask questions until Elly has finished her story, save to occassionally indicate that she should go on.
And in the end he stares down at the table, one hand lifting to the bridge of his nose, to fidget again with his glasses.
"I see... I am sorry that you had to experience that, Elly," he says at last, his hand falling away. He nods, once. "It is fortunate that the both of you were able to escape. ...Those who graduate from Jugend are formidable, however they may otherwise seem."
He would know, given what he has told them, wouldn't he?
He glances over at Fei. "Fei has the right of it. Whatever you might have experienced, it concerns me that Gebler, no, Solaris is here. I had thought we only had Odessa and Althena's Guard to worry about." He frowns, as if perturbed. "They have been staying silent, have they not..." He exhales a sigh, only to shake his head. "It is a shame we cannot question your, ah, former classmate." His gaze falls again to his cup of tea, and he at last reaches to pick it up.
His attempt to drink it, though, is forestalled by Fei commenting on his daughter.
"...Do not worry about Midori, Fei. She is in the care of more capable hands than mine." A self-effacing smile, there.
(because it's his wife. he's talking about his wife)
"...And do not be so harsh on yourself. I believe she saw something in you that she did not see in other people," he says, and then finally takes a sip of his tea.
...
......
It's gone cold. You can see from his expression that the tea has absolutely gone cold. "...It seems that I forgot, once again," he remarks, a touch sadly.
And then perhaps 'waste not want not' he steels himself and downs the rest of the cup.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Heh, fair enough," Fei says on the matter of Midori. "But I hope you get to see her soon again enough. But I guess for that to happen we have to get back to Filgaia." Fei assumes that Citan's numerous mysterious disappearances is him checking up on his family because what else could it be?
"Mm... so building it is bad but using it is fine? I guess I could see that. Pretty practical way of thinking."
Fei doesn't have much else to say about Loren specifically but ... should he have tried to take Loren prisoner? He hadn't even thought about that!
To be fair he was mostly thinking 'I don't want to be killed by the medic!'.
Fei looks briefly perplexed when Citan says Midori say something inside of him that she didn't see in others.
...!! Does he know?! That doctor...!
"I can work up another cup--" Fei stands to do just that.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly is silent for a long moment.
Then she embraces Fei, from the side. Gathering him close, without explaining why.
Maybe it was those words, 'second class.'
Looking up, she says, "Did it? You know, I've enjoyed it cold..."
See, the Doc is already drinking it. But then she shifts back, to let Fei rise, if rise he will!!