2022-01-09: Ounce of Prevention, Speculating Against Cure
- Log: 2022-01-09: Ounce of Prevention, Speculating Against Cure
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Eleanor Klein
- Where: Besaid
- Date: January 09, 2022
- Summary: Though the circumstances of where this conversation happens appears nonsensical, Eleanor finds a greater urgency to seek out a man that appears key to misfortune that's about to befall Alcidamas Village. Will her trust in tipping her hand be misplaced...? Also, is it really that important for Ethius to be comparing different fruits in the Spiran boonies? (Only one of these questions is worth asking.)
==================================<* Besaid *>================================== Besaid is a small tropical island at the southernmost point of the Spiran archipelago, almost as far south as one can get and still be part of Spira. The island features a large beach and seaport, a small village surrounded by forests and waterfalls, and a temple of Yevon. Its relative isolation from the outside world has resulted in a pastoral, almost idyllic life for its few inhabitants; if not for the few Summoners traveling to pray to the Fayth, Besaid would see almost no visitors at all. It is also home to the lowly Aurochs, a blitzball team of which the less said is better. BGM: Final Fantasy X - Besaid Island
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
There's not much to say about Besaid other than things and an individual one probably does not want to recall or talk about. (Yes, Besaid Man, you exist, and somewhere you are probably beaning someone with a blitzball in your continued frustration about the direction of your life. You do you. Somewhere else.)
As matters intensify at Guadosalam with the operation being assisted by a then unthinkable ally, someone else... has decided Besaid is more interesting or important to be, holding a bag of some leafy plant matter in one hand as he appears to be foraging about the isolated tropical island without a clear idea of what he's looking for(?). The locals have given him a wide berth. Let's not blame them. He's a weirdo and has always had a somewhat unsettling manner to him. It may be incidental, but it seems like a few of the Fiends either have less of an appropriate line of sight for victims or are ultimately concurring with the locals that, no, maybe they don't want that either.
(Half true, he accidentally broke a Holy Bottle's worth of water on himself and has not been able to get it out of his everything, and that's as much an explanation as anyone's going to get.)
It is mid-day, and it's a nice, warm day that seems mostly unaware of how crazy and tense things are in the rest of Spira right now, and Ethius is now presently comparing two different kinds of fruit.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor, true to form, does have a few nice memories of Besaid, and happens to be here ostensibly to pick up some of their lovely fabrics for use back in Filgaia to make some nice clothes. Ostensibly. While it's true that she wants those, and has in mind a nice dressmaker for Xiumei...
But that's not why she's here in this part of Besaid this instant. Here this instant she has tracked Ethius to the beach. She does not, precisely, blend in--even in more local-style clothes like she's wearing, she is an elf for one thing, among others. But she's rather friendlier than he is, and is doing well among the people there. She's been avoiding Fiends to find... Ah. There he is.
In a nice, airy Besaid-style dress with her shoulders(!) exposed, Eleanor steps up behind Ethius, slippers padding quietly against the sands. "Mister Hesiod?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The man puts his hand down over the sack not too subtly when he sets it down against the sand, holding the local unidentified (but definitely a) fruit in his hand. As always, he's dressed up more like the stereotype of someone rough and undesirable - even if he's not wearing an appropriated Al Bhed filtration mask, some of the articles of clothing are associated with them. He raises his head without looking to the speaker of that voice, as though working out the remainder of a startled feeling in his own way.
"...Miss Eleanor." He says, none too warmly, none too coldly. An acknowledgement, an identification. "Are you seeking the services of the Caravan Kinship? I will relay the message."
They aren't here right now.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor may never know why Ethius does that, but it seems to serve his purposes well enough. She is perhaps less inclined than she might have one been to try to convince him to dress up a little more nicely...
"I am not," she answers about the CaraKin pleasantly. "But thank you. I was shopping for something more local," she replies, and gestures to a ship some distance down the beach where her things are going to be brought.
"...However, I'm glad I ran into you. I've wanted to talk to you..."
"About Alcidamas."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius' head starts to lower as Eleanor mentions looking to shop more local, as though something on his mind speaks 'this is someone saying hello, that's that.' Try as he might, within what might he can muster among meandering mumbles...
'About Alcidamas.'
"I am aware of a supposed oasis within the Zoara region of Aquvy, yes." Supposed? Confirmed. The CaraKin has been doing business there! It's helped with some of the logistics of exporting and trading its, uh, bumper among bumper crops. Bumper^2. So much so that food may yet lose all monetary value on Filgaia! (...One wouldn't go that far, but its fortune is unreal. Unreal, to have happened in what may well have been the equivalent of a fortnight across epic spans of time.)
At last, he looks over his shoulder with that unyielding stare of a side-eye towards Eleanor. "It is far from here."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It would be natural and normal for Eleanor just to say hello. Particularly since she's waiting on a delivery anyway--which naturally she paid extra for--and happens to be on as friendly of terms with Ethius as people are likely to be...
But his answer is quick.
"Yes," Eleanor says. "It's very curious; the way the Seraphim have reacted to it, for one, is quite unusual, to say nothing of the uncommon health of a region that is supposedly war-blasted nearly to uninhabitability."
"It is far from here. But..."
"What are your feelings about it, Mister Hesiod? I notice that you've avoided it, though the Caravan Kinship as a whole has been very active in that region."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"I am to assume it is to their liking." Ethius remarks when he has a chance to speak - who is so innocently(?) off the mark. "Individuals deeply attuned to nature, if I recall. It would stand to reason, compared to desertification of Filgaia, they would find the place interesting and of comfort."
(no comment -ed.)
As far as his feelings go, there is a noted pause, as if he weren't in consideration of talking about it. The man often sounds like he's reading from an invisible script with some of his more cold, hands-off, boilerplate responses to various situations and inquiries. As if he might be looking for the correct page and line within those gears turning in his head.
"It is not that unusual my own interests deviate in places from the rest of the Caravan Kinship. I am not a merchant by trade." What even is he by trade? Does he have one?
(I receive: your cooperation. You receive: no explanation.)
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"You would think so," Eleanor answers Ethius. "That would make sense, after all. But it isn't at all. Boudicca had some sort of fit about the entity at the center there."
There is a pause. Ethius often sounds exactly that way... but Eleanor is practiced at rhetoric. She might be able to pierce that facade--and she's counting on it, for the moment.
"True," Eleanor replies. "You're very unusual yourself, Mister Hesiod. I think that they value your cooperation, all the same. But..."
Pause. "That doesn't answer my question."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Boudicca, she of an even keel when she's accidentally flinging a Hot Air Sack-using Ethius all over the place, having a fit about... some sort of entity at the center of it all. It should be alarming, deeply worrisome. But he doesn't betray what he feels on the matter beyond 'stare, be uncomfortable, evasive.'
Eleanor calls out the non-answer that Jay keeps letting slide even after years of knowing him - he didn't answer the question.
"I have yet to set foot." He responds. "If there is an entity there that upsets Miss Boudicca, I am to assume that her... Seers, was it? Will see to the issue." He brings a hand to the side of his head. "As far as I'm aware, the only thing that gives the Seraphim pause is the presence of Malevolence."
But there's none of it there. Even for the brief time a known 'major' Hellion was there, there's been none of that to sniff out.
"Is there a reason my counsel is of import, Miss Eleanor?"
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It should be something, in any case, but Ethius displays nothing. He is uncomfortable; he is evasive; he is... not easy to read. And Eleanor has no special powers that give her sway over the emotions of others. She just has to find the right path to the answer, that's all there is to it.
"Her Seers, yes. And that's possible, though there is no Malevolence there that we've detected. Indeed, it's quite idyllic..."
She remembers Ruth's presence.
"Yes," she answers him--almost directly. "I..."
She pauses, considering her words, taking just a moment to put them in order. "I have reason to believe that you have some relationship with Alcidamas or its mayor. A hostile relationship. And I need to know your intentions."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The man may well be on the verge of going 'I do not understand the issue nor see how it relates to me' when Eleanor mentions there's no Malevolence and that the location is 'quite idyllic.' He can't say to be an expert on Seraphim behavior beyond 'nosy,' 'kind of annoying,' and 'may or may not be inside one's shoe entirely at their whim.' As if on some level he cannot fully let his guard down against something that violates so many laws of physics as to their capability to occupy the same space as something else at the same time.
And then not promptly sink through the ground into the core of the planet, with their selective adherence to these concepts. But this is not about his inability to accept where the laws of reality are bent where inconvenient to him, as Eleanor hesitates to put it plain what the matter is.
A relationship with Alcidamas or its mayor. A hostile relationship - and a desire to know his intentions.
"...Would this mayor have spoken of me by name as if familiar, then?" Ethius asks, with a bit of a more pointed tone. "As I do not have recollection of previous... relationships, that would be urgent."
A hand to his forehead, again. "...I do recall, in the distant past, a landscape I would consider... idyllic. Myriad trees, humid, surrounded by swampland, but verdant and colorful, as though the air itself were alive." This description fits 'Guadosalam' a bit more than 'Alcidamas.' This man is not from Guadosalam, even if some aspects of his manner are not dissimilar to the way the Guado have conducted themselves about outsiders.
"As I have yet to see Alcidamas or meet its mayor, however, I do not believe... I can give you a satisfactory, truthful answer."
(When has he ever.)
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Seraphim are pretty strange... but Eleanor never particularly thought so. Her alma mater, after all, hangs over an endless void one half-dimension over from Filgaia's. It's fine. She's a wizard.
But the question is hard to answer, because it is not a matter of has, but will--and Eleanor weighs the risks of stating the truth outright, as Ethius relates what he does remember. And what he remembers...
Where Ethius is from... So in that case--perhaps it is not something he intends, but--
"...All right," Eleanor answers at first. And then. she makes a decision. "I believe you," she says. "Jay trusts you, and so will I. But we have the chance to avert a terrible tragedy, and I will need your help to do it. I will have to tell you a secret that I ask that you tell no one else--all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is quiet throughout Eleanor's seeming acceptance of his answer. He may be ruminating over a means in which to disengage and continue doing whatever it is he intends to do to this poor ripe local fruit that did not deserve his scrutiny. (It's a delectable one. This rich ripe local fruit. Still doesn't deserve his scrutiny.)
"You would ask me specifically to deal with a delicate matter?" He asks, unaware of just how much of this can - or will - involve him, hands folded behind his back as if standing at attention. "You will have my discretion."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
There are fruits that would be more deserving of Ethius's attention, surely. But not here. Not now. Poor fruit..
She's not sure if he 'can't' or just 'won't' answer, but Eleanor has chosen to believe in him for now, because if he really does intend what she's seen... Well.
"Good. In that case..."
Pause. "I periodically see the future. I have had a vision confirming that you will be present in Alcidamas... as it burns. Standing over the mayor, Homer Mecone. I do not intend to accuse you of anything--if indeed things unfold as I've seen them, it is something you will do, not that you have done--"
"But since you know of no good reason that the village should be harmed, I ask that you help me protect it from this vision."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
He is a man who has, to a point, taken advantage of the trust of some. Malfi once confided that there was a way to safely get Metal Beats she trained to stand down - something he used to turn around and cull as many roaming the wastes of Elru as he could. Pragmatic as a means to preserve what of its ecosystem that yet survives, but chilling in that he wouldn't take the extra step to help corral them in the company of others that might yet want to see them saved.
The only assurance anyone has is that he hasn't taken direct (intentional) steps to destabilize or destroy either world - with the continued possible exception of what he did to Diablo.
He listens as Eleanor details how she sees the future. He doesn't blink or show any signs of mockery - taking her word with utmost sincerity and/or patience. Her insistence that he /will/ be present in Alcidamas... as it burns. Standing over the mayor, Homer Mecone.
He blinks once around these words, as she intends to say she doesn't accuse the unrepentant serial arsonist and vandal of a heat-based bent of anything. The insistence he will do this, not that he's done.
"If it is as serious as you say, Miss Eleanor, you may be assured that I will not see the people of Alcidamas harmed."
It's difficult to read the man. Nothing here speaks of his usual roundabout evasiveness or deception - but can he be taken for his exact word, as presented? Eleanor may notice one thing if she so looks, although it itself is not a condemnation of his testimony:
Something in that bag smells very strongly of local produce to that region. It's distributed just about everywhere throughout Zoara now, and it keeps extraordinarily well by standards of fruit. He may not have been there yet, but he's carrying the fruit.
Another wrinkle to the puzzle.
"That is my word I will give you," for however much it's truly worth when the man's manner is what it is.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor knows full well that Ethius is shady; she knows that he may take advantage of this particular trust, too. But she is no naive ingenue; she chooses to believe in a better future, in the heights to which people can rise, rather than assuming the worst.
If she is wrong here... Then she will deal with that when it comes.
"...It is," Eleanor confirms for seriousness. "And I appreciate that. ...I know something is strange there; something is going on, and it is not all good. I cannot say what tomorrow will bring for you, or the next day... except for this. It will happen, unless we change it."
She does noticethe fruit; she is perceptive, used to seeing a lot of details all at once... and out here, the scent is particular.
"...The people are innocent; they only seek a home. So if we see them in danger, it's our responsibility to help them."
She smiles faintly. "I will be counting on you, Mister Hesiod. If you need help, if something comes up... You can reach out to me. That's what friends do, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius hears out Eleanor's musings with the same attention given as before, and that same sort of standoffish nature. The way he stands now is not unlike that of a soldier standing at attention, which is always a weird thing when by all measures he's just a surprisingly well-spoken vagabond (and an arsonist).
"Of course. I understand your position." Does he? He can say these sorts of things like it's nothing, but all the reckless behavior in-between that often inconveniences or frightens people around him (often both)... and some of the hurtful things he's done to the feelings of others in pursuit of some nebulous, more important 'other.'
"It is, yes," he confirms Eleanor's determination about what it is friends do, to reach out to them if something comes up. The last half decade of the two worlds' reawakened exploration ages have reinforced the importance of trust, bonds, and learning to build bridges between the assumed, the accepted, and the novel.
...As it would so happen...
In her visions, he does not reach out.