2020-07-12: Just A Normal Day
- Log: Just A Normal Day
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: The Thames - Upper Deck
- Date: July 12, 2020
- Summary: Some days are just normal, peaceful days.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Sometimes, there aren't people to save or terrible events that need to be stopped. Sometimes, life can simply be lived, at its own pace.
Sometimes, a day can be peaceful.
Today is Northern Aquvy's sea in summer. The skies above feature but a few trailing wisps of white clouds. About the Thames, the ocean simply is, broken up at intervals by white-crested caps and a few stray small salvager ships. Seagulls take flight suddenly, stirred by some action further along the Thames' deck. Despite the storms days ago, today promises to be a calm one; only a gentle breeze drifts through the air.
In fact, the only 'disruption' of any kind is the shouting from much further down the deck (probably the reason for the seagulls making a sudden exit, if the sudden clanking and thunk of something heavier hitting the deck over there is any sign of it) but that's actually basically normal for the Thames.
Citan has been standing behind Fei -- the younger man currently in the process of working on a sketch -- for a good three or four minutes. It's entirely possible that Fei hasn't noticed him yet.
"...My, even as a sketch, it seems rather lifelike," the doctor remarks.
Perhaps make that 'possibly hasn't noticed him until now', that is.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is worn out as fuck and he really could use a day where he doesn't have to punch Astrid in the face. Or really--honestly at this point?--ANYONE in the face? He's not sure how adventurers who go out every other day can handle it. Maybe, he thinks, something is fundamentally wrong with me.
But he does enjoy sketching all the same. It's meditative for him. His thoughts can wander and he doesn't have to think too hard about what he's thinking about because he's paying JUST ENOUGH attention to his work that he can keep his mind on it. His work today is a sketch of Ida that he is thinking of using as aa basis for a later painting that's more impressionistic--which is his natural style rather than portrait but a guy who has to eat makes more money off of character art. At least on a day to day basis.
He jumps a little when Citan speaks up and he lowers his pencil, but only after erasing the sharp line he did when Citan spoke up and jolted him..
"Eheh... Well I've been getting a lot of practice in, even if I'm not quite keeping the pace I had back in Adlehyde." Fei says, rubbing his neck and even blushing a littlel.
"Glad to see you, Doc. Been a rough couple of weeks, but how've you been? I know there's been some fighting but it's felt a lot more disjointed and less desperate than back during the, uh, I guess the 'third' Metal Demon war."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Oh, my apologies! I did not mean to sneak up on you," Citan says, as Fei erases a stray line. "I fear I may step a little too quietly at times."
Still standing behind Fei, the doctor folds his arms over his chest, again regarding the sketch that is underway. "If I am not mistaken, you will use this sketch to create a later painted piece?" He lapses into a moment of silence, perhaps thinking something over. "...I must say, it is a shame you have never been able to make full use of your talent. While I confess to being no great artist myself and thus can only speak of art from the perspective of an admirer, the skill and precision in your paintings has always struck me as phenomenal. Perhaps I am overstating it, but I do believe you possess the skills and talent of a potential 'grand master'!"
But he shakes his head. It simply isn't possible, so long as...
...well, so long as Fei is 'Fei'.
"...Yes, it seems that it has."
And so long as this world is in a state of unrest. Since the world has ever been so and will ever been so--
"I have been well, thank you. There is certainly enough in this part of the world to keep me 'busy'! But I am afraid that is often the way of the world. Never entirely as desperate as an all-out war, and certainly always disjointed." He sighs. "It was much simpler back in Lahan... but in a place so cut off from the rest of Filgaia... I suppose it could not help but be simpler."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Oh, it's alright." Fei says. "I should really pay attention to my surroundings but I'm trying to unwind a little, heh... Can't be on guard all the time." Well you can but it's probably not very healthy.
Citan compliments his work--the hints of a blush become a full on one as he stammers, "A--aww c'mon doc, you're flatterin' me! I won't shut down my work too hard, but I'm definitely not a master of any kind...!" He looks back to Ida, fretting--worried about some minute detail of anatomy that nobody can even see.
But Fei has been good at painting even since back in Lahan. He's growing in his skill since then largely because he's getting more practice in than he used to back t hen.
"...Yeah," He admits to Citan's wisdom. "I guess I can see why some people are nostalgic for that kind of war. When you have a war like that, you can trick yourself into thinking it'll be over once it's done. Even if nothing is ever over."
He smiles a bit sadly at Lahan, though he doesn't literally run away which is an improvement from Chapter 1.
"Yeah... It'd still be living that simple life if not for me. I guess it's a little--selfish to think I can get a life like that again."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Yes... being constantly on one's guard can be taxing," Citan remarks, shaking his head. "In any case, I am glad you have been able to unwind. With all that has been happening, it is more important than ever to attend to one's hobbies."
This may explain (partially) what Citan has been doing on board the Thames, of course. There are hardly better places than this in which to collect odds and ends. With him no longer necessarily limited to what he can store on his person or within his Gear... and with access to a workshop aboard the Karlsefni...
Perhaps a revival of the Land Crab might even be in the cards. Among other things.
"I merely speak the truth, Fei," the doctor insists, and if Fei turned around, he would see that the man's smiling slightly. "...Though, perhaps you are correct. You are not a 'master' just yet! But, I do not think it would be out of your grasp."
Except for the fact that his existence alone is one that the world seeks to destroy. His fate does not permit him peace or happiness.
"...Indeed. I suppose that is the 'appeal' of war," Citan reflects, his expression growing more grave. "There is a start and an end to a war, or at least, to war as it is traditionally practiced." There are forever wars -- battles that continue as long as the sides fighting them exist. There are even wars of the sort practiced by Odessa. But perhaps his point still stands.
"Meanwhile, the same is not so for the other complications that arrive in life..."
'I guess it's a little--selfish to think I can get a life like that again.'
"..."
Citan is silent for a moment more, fidgeting with his glasses.
"Perhaps," he says, taking a somewhat gentler approach, dodging around the subject at hand to a degree, "it is a better thing to look forward to the future? It is far too easy to dwell on what was and what might have been," he reflects, as if he may be familiar with this circuit of thought.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
The Land Crab... *HORROR FACE*
"Alright I'll accept that," Fei says, sounding relieved that Citan is just not pushing it further. "I mean anybody can be a master if they practice. Maybe one day it'll be how I make my living instead of going into trap filled death pits." He frowns a bit. "But Emeralda might miss them..." Emeralda seems to enjoy the adventurer life but it probably isn't something he should be encouraging? It's dangerous after all and she is a child by temperment if nothing else, even if a seemingly nigh-invulnerable one.
"Yeah." He adds. "Maybe one day. But--" He looks to Citan. "...I suppose you feel some responsibility--but I hope you're not just sticking with us because you're watching out for me. Most of us in the Wolves don't have family but each other, really. But you've got family waiting for you." He thinks of Midori growing up without her father because he's stuck babysitting him. "If you want to go back home, I'll be okay."
That might not be true, admittedly.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Hmm... well, then," Citan muses, when Fei says that Emeralda might miss exploring ruins, someday. "Perhaps the time might have come for her to find other hobbies...?" he suggests.
Parenting his own daughter has been a somewhat fraught territory -- even if he also has to admit that Yui has done most of the work on that front (especially lately). Parenting a child who is nigh-invulnerable meanwhile is...
...well it makes him glad that Midori is by all appearances a relatively obedient if shy child.
'If you want to go back home, I'll be okay'.
It becomes then the second time that Citan laspses into silence.
"I am... not certain how to put this, Fei, but Lahan..." He pauses again, bowing his head as if in thought.
"When you were transported to Lunar that first time... once it became clear that your return was, ah, an uncertain thing, I did in fact travel back to Lahan." What is left of it, that is.
"My wife... Yui. She had left for me a message. She had organized with the remaining villagers to relocate elsewhere for their safety. ...As the message did not detail where they had gone, for safety's sake, I cannot say where they are now. So you see..."
He shakes his head. "We had... long ago planned for something like this, Fei. It is not necessarily 'because of you'. I am confident we will meet again someday, but until then, you are correct. As a 'citizen of Solaris', I do feel a responsibility for your situation. I intend to stay."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei considers. "Oh..hm." He thiks it ver. What els is Emeralda interested in besides delicious things and adventure? She's still pretty...well, no, she isn't young at all but she still feels young. Maybe biking? She is heavier than she looks though--oh but maybe she can like turn into a bicycle? Citan can see Fei's brow furrow in deep thought. It's probably kind of embarrassing.
Fei's only jarred from his thoughts when Citan starts speaking again. He looks over, stirring from his thoughts. "Ah--" He says.
...
"She did, did she? Wow, she's really resourceful. A lot like you, Doc." He grins. Though--maybe not so resourceful she couldn't have sent some kind of coded thing for him--but well, this wasn't exactly planned for them now was it?
"I...yeah, I guess I could see why you might've had plans ready. You were always more aware of what was going on in the world than me. Or, uh, really anyone I know haha--"
He smiles bashfully, "Well... I can say I'm glad you're with us Doc. We'll find a way to make things right. Or, well..." He thinks of the earlier part of the conversation about how there are ALWAYS problems. "--right enough." He nods once. "And when we find them, you can probably tell Midori of all the weird places you've been. I think she'd like that."
This may be optimistic of Fei.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Fei seems to wrack his brains over the subject of what Emeralda might also like to do, and the doctor simply shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. Well, Fei's still new to being a father, and if Citan is being honest with himself, here... exactly when has he last seen his own daughter?
Though that, perhaps, is not entirely his fault. Indeed, the decision had already been out of his hands.
"Indeed..." he remarks, on the subject of his wife, and not without a slight smile. "Yui is not to be underestimated, Fei."
She hadn't left a coded message, likely on the off-chance that any potential pursuers might have been clued in. ...And of course, there is the fact that there is one place in particular where Yui is likely to have taken the villagers which -- though he cannot be absolutely certain of it -- makes even the act of leaving a message moot to begin with.
Ultimately, he has faith in Yui. She's more than capable of protecting herself and Midori, should the situation arise. But, even so...
But, his place is here, now.
"Knowing what you know now, perhaps you can understand that I have had reason to be," the doctor remarks, glancing off at the sea. "Still, to think there was another world just above us...! There are many surprises yet to be had, would you not agree?"
And possibly, stories to tell, once they all meet again.
"Hmm... perhaps so. Of course, she may also be interested in hearing about what you have done, Fei. Midori has always been fond of you." He glances over at Fei. "...I know, she may not seem so, but am I not her father?"
Midori may be effectively nonverbal, but she has other ways of communicating. One doesn't need words to speak their heart.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei tries his best but he didn't exactly ask for this and has known Emeralda for maybe a year. He's mostly just glad that she seems happy. That's all he really wants from her. But maybe he should try to push her a bit more? Adventure may be limitless, but there's more to life than that.
Besides, Fei would be the first to admit that his artistry has actually helped in digs a lot. It's a useful tool to have hobbies even when your primary job is going into danger and surviving it.
Fei is unaware that Yui is a master swordsman that trounced Citan but he does think she's reliable enough. Sure, even a master swordsman can't handle every problem with a blade, but Yui seems clever and that usually seems far more useful than a sword anyway.
"Heh, fair point." He admits on Yui. "I'm a worrier, you know thata."
Citan remarks on his amazement on Lunar's, well, existence! And Fei himself laughs at it, "Yeah. I don't think any of me have ever been up t here. It must've been a fascinating experience for him too. Didn't care for the malevolence though."
His eyes widen. "Aw, no way man. Midori's a good girl. She's just quiet. Being quiet doesn't mean you dislike someone, you know? Sometimes, being quiet is just another way of giving space to folks, letting 'em figure out what you've already got going. She's a smart kid. Pretty sure that runs in the family, eh? She's got a good heart. I can tell. That runs in the family too."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"It is not a bad thing, necessarily, to worry, Fei. I like to think that it permits me to consider what might happen." He pauses, as if to consider this for a moment. "...Though... I suppose I must admit that Yui has always told me that I think far too much about things!" Citan shakes his head and sighs. "...But I do not think I can help it anymore than you can."
The doctor has, himself, only been to Lunar once -- and Spira, at that. For the rest of that other world, he can only rely on the information provided by Fei and the others. Indeed, until recently...
...He had barely any encounter with Malevolence. It had been interesting.
"Hm..." he muses, considering what Fei has said. "...I see. Perhaps I will be able to visit more than Spira, someday."
'Any of him', was it.
He glances over at the younger man, tilting his head slightly to the left. "Oh, indeed. I do not believe she dislikes you. In fact, I believe she considers you a good friend of hers. She is... quieter than many children are and had difficulty making friends with the other children her age. I think she will be happy to see you again."
He might smile when Fei says 'the whole family has a good heart', but it is a slightly discomfited smile, as that remark made him somewhat embarrassed, perhaps. "In any case..." he starts to say, gazing out at the sea again.
"..."
No, it's not so much the sea but the sky. The horizon. As if it were possible to--
"...In any case, perhaps I should let you return to your art, Fei? Please, do not let me distract you!"