2023-02-02: A Breath of Fresh Air
- Log: A Breath of Fresh Air
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Fei Fong Wong, Ethius Hesiod
- Where: The Fahrenheit
- Date: February 02, 2023
- Summary: During the talks, Citan and Fei head up for some fresh air and meet with Ethius.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"What do you think? Shall we get some fresh air?"
The talks between Shevat and the Al Bhed proceed, and as to their direction -- or if the hoped-for alliance is yet to come -- well, even Citan cannot say.
The omens were good, even in spite of certain... circumstances at the outset, but there are many ways for alliance to sour before it can even be. But, as he has said already on the matter, there is little they can do but wait, and hope that there will be nothing more to the talks than this.
That said, gazing at the walls during the waiting is its own trial.
...And there isn't much available in the way of a change of scenery other than heading abovedeck.
"Of course, I see Cid's wisdom in conducting the talks here on the Fahrenheit," Citan remarks, gazing down on sea and clouds below. He fidgets with his glasses. "Still... I cannot help but wish he had chosen another place! I fear this will not be the last I stand here before they have finished..."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Well, the good thing about setting them on the Farenheit," Fei quips. "IS that when it gets attacked it can fly away from danger. The bad thing about setting them on the Farenheit is that if it gets knocked out of the sky it's a long away down."
He was happy to get fresh air. He was, frankly, getting a little stir crazy there so when Citan made the offer--he was all too happy to go along with it even if, of course, they're still on the ship.
"I mean we could take our gears and fly off but I bet that's the moment something would go terribly wrong, knowing our luck." Fei laughs as if he's just bloody used to it now. "But it can't be much longer. If it is, I'd start to get worried it was falling apart all on its own."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"I remain unconvinced open air serves as adequate ventilation after the... chili." As if Ethius is having problems parsing that whatever it was they found stashed, splashed, and smashed everywhere was actually something that could be called 'chili,' but the Al Bhed have the right to name their things however they wish. As does everyone.
Ethius removes what face masking he's had through the frenzy of cleaning, revealing a short beard of matching white-hued hair and a tired facial expression that doesn't quite take away from the intensity of his staring when he bears down on it. A hand goes to his forehead as he coughs a few times.
"I couldn't say one way or the other."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Precisely," Citan says, after regarding Fei thoughtfully for a moment. "The airship has the advantage of speed and relative isolation from the rest of the world." He holds up a finger. "However, that is not proof of safety, as you have just stated! Moreover, if we were to be attacked in force, even from the air..."
Even the Fahrenheit might find itself pressed, or its escape routes cut off.
"No," Citan agrees, shaking his head. "I also do not think that would be wise. Even if nothing had happened, would our absence not be missed...? It is important to learn to endure such periods, even if we might wish they should go by much more quickly! ...And even if the view should not vary, it is a pleasant one. Do you not agree, Fei?"
They are not alone up here.
Citan turns his head.
"So you are here as well... Mister Hesiod, was it?" He looks him over, one hand resting against his chin as he regards Ethius thoughtfully. "Well... be that as it may, we have dealt with it adequately, I should think. Why, I could not even detect a hint of the fumes!"
...Arguably, that chili was food. Arguably.
He spreads his arms wide, as if to invite a new topic of conversation. "So, what is it that brings you to assist here, Mister Hesiod?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
No matter where you go...
ETHIUS WILL BE WITH YOU??
Fei startles a bit and then presses his hand to his chest. "Cripes, Ethius..." He says, easing down a bit but he is still, for some reason, a little leery of Ethius even after he revealed his backstory and everything!! Because Ethius did set him on fire once and he might do it again!!
"Yeah I guess--I mean, I guess I used to be used to sitting around in a single place for a long period of time." He frowns, suddenly suspicious of himself. He squints his eyes closed and takes in a long breath and lets it out shakily.
"Yeah," He smiles. "It's a great view. And--well, you gotta enjoy the peace while it lasts. Got that right."
He grimaces, thinking of the chili. And...other issues during the cleaning.
"It was a close call," He whispers.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Even now, Ethius just has a talent for sort of lingering in places and then coming out of nowhere, he's just that kind of guy. He's wearing his weariness more than he has in previous times, which may or may not be attributable to 'the chili' more than 'life changing/affirming experiences in having to confront his manner of behavior en route to fulfilling a mission.'
He coughs again. It's definitely the chili.
He goes a bit more alert immediately as Fei startles, because that's always a landmine.
"My apologies." Ethius straightens out a little. "Yes. I am present alongside Miss Jay. By and large, I am... merely present." Though his presence isn't really always a gift, is it.
"I find time starts to pass a little too quickly as you get older," he asides to Fei. Then, broadly, to the both of them.
"...I would rarely disclose such a vulnerability, but... I've never been one for spicy food." He looks over his shoulder, to where once lied a whole glob of 'the stuff.' Once. "Or... for spicy... that."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"There is something that almost speaks to the soul at such a sight. The sea and the sky, with scarce any sign of humanity but the vessel upon which we now stand...! Ah, but I am not thinking of writing poetry about this view just yet," he asides, with a slight smile. "So, please, do not worry."
Citan has heard, in bits and pieces (and from a good many disparate sources), just what had happened regarding Ethius, Demetrioi, and everything else.
"I see... so your presence is a result of Miss Barber's own," he muses, as if taking this into account alongside everything else. "Her alchemical cures were quite useful in, ah... sobering up the crew. I wish I had such myself when I was a younger man!"
Though. Speaking about that--
"This is... quite true, I am afraid," Citan replies to Ethius, on the matter of time's passage. Regrettably, Citan knows this far too well. Just like that, four years had gone by, and he had...
Oh yes, the pot of alleged chili. The chili that would would have caused a first degree burn at room temperature. "...I am afraid I am of similar tastes," he admits, shaking his head. "I have never been able to stomach spicy food." Or whatever it was that the... chili had counted as, at that.
He glances sidelong at Fei. His smile may well be a touch pained. "...Indeed, it was," Citan says quietly in response.
On top of the time limit they had, it had all been a very close shave.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei stares at Ethius and manages to avoid assaulting him. He's just being friendly, Fei tells himself. He's saying things an older guy would say to you. He doesn't know.
"Yeah," Fei says. "Yeah for sure. Though, I mean, I feel like life without being able to handle spicy food is pretty rough. Maybe you could build up a resistance to it by adding a bit of spice, then more--and so on?"
He hasn't set you on fire in years, Fei! Get over it! Behave, you have to behave!
"Course," He admits. "Even I'd probably really not appreciate their grade of chili."
Jacqueline Barber's presence is a relief. Fei takes in a long breath and lets out a long breath. She'll make sure this guy doesn't get into trouble. Or set him on fire. Again.
It still feels strange that nothing bad has happened yet.
"A young father died to bring this sky to Spira." Fei says. "And it was over a lie. But I imagine he would want us to appreciate it. Maybe one day Sin'll be gone for good and this place will carry on...a new meaning."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
It is quite a sight, as Citan and Fei reminisce about how it got that way. The needless sacrifice of a young father, the lack of large aerodynamic shapes or flames filling the skylines... it brings him back to the time a group showed a young girl with dreams of going to the stars an incredible view from an orbital observation station.
How there was no sense of magic or awe in his eyes then, nor is there now. That's an innocence he's long since lost. He says nothing to take away that experience from the other two here, taking watch and stock of said skies regardless.
"I still wonder, even now, what it was that saw Sin strike at Azado at the time they did," Ethius remarks, "more as a matter of curiosity."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Do not think I am utterly incapable, now, Fei," Citan chides, if gently. "That said, if I should have the option..." He trails off, but perhaps his meaning is clear: he'd rather not.
Unless it's his wife who is doing the cooking, that is.
Though, could even Yui have saved that pot of chili...? A question best left unasked and unanswered, perhaps.
A young father had died... and over a lie. Yes, that had been the right of it, in the end. To continue the cycle, even as it faltered and crumbled.
His Calm had ended in time. Sin returned. And this time, there could never be another Calm, whatever might be done.
"Yes... even if it were over a lie... I do not think it was 'for nothing'," Citan remarks quietly, gazing out into the blue. "Perhaps... time was his gift to us. Enough time, to see that the cycle is ended..."
It is Spira of which they speak. But it is a story that has played itself out elsewhere across these two worlds. Again, and again, the stories repeat themselves. And to what end? Eventually--
"Yes," Citan says at last, glancing Ethius' way. "I wonder that, myself." He hadn't been there. He can only speculate what had happened. And yet...
"For now, let us apply ourselves to matters here. Perhaps before long we may have a means of handling even such as Sin," he says, glancing between the two of them. "We must only take the first necessary step." For nothing is possible with only one wing, but together, people may fly.