2023-02-21: You Can't Go Home Again (Without Your Boyfriend)
- Log: You Can't Go Home Again (Without Your Boyfriend)
- Cast: Tidus, Yuna
- Where: Besaid
- Date: February 21, 2023
- Summary: Yuna and Tidus go on one last date before Sin.
==================================<* 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> Tidus has posed.
It's been a busy... how long's it been now? It's hard for Tidus to tell anymore. Even so, after that battle on the Fahrenheit where Solaris sent Gears to mess with the talks between the Queen of Shevat and the Al Bhed, it feels like the tension's racheting up again. It can't help but feel that way, after Vinsfeld's guys shot that superweapon at Sin and even made it retreat under the sea. Tidus hasn't stopped having a bad feeling about that ever since he saw it happen.
And that all is of course aside from what'll happen to him once the fighting is all over--once Sin is defeated. According to the Fayth of Bahamut, he's a dream, but also more than a dream. The dream has to end... but if he's more than a dream, then does that mean he'll still be here after the fayth awaken?
It might just be wishful thinking. But as long as he's not sure, with the end in sight, he'd like to spend more time with the woman he loves.
"Hey, it's been a long time since you visited home, right, Yuna? D'you want to run over there and pay a visit while we've got the chance?" he'd suggested a few hours ago, back on the Fahrenheit.
Now, they're walking the path leading to the little village, the wooden fencing coming into sight. It hadn't been hard to get Cid to take them here, and he's glad for it. Though Tidus had suggested it for Yuna's sake, he finds it's actually pretty relaxing for him too.
"It's been a while for both of us, huh?" he comments as they pass under a tree's shade. "Feels like ages ago that I washed up on the shore here." He turns a smile to Yuna at his side, perhaps also hand-in-hand with him. "Never woulda guessed we'd've ended up like this back then. Hey, what're you looking forward to seeing again the most, Yuna?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
Yuna has been quiet in the way that the island is quiet. There are birds, and waves, and waterfall spray, and breeze in the trees, but none of these are more than a gentle softness of soundscape. She seems to be absorbing it all into herself.
She blinks once, slowly, at the question.
"When I first left Besaid," she says a little haltingly, after a beat, "I never thought I would return. I'm glad that... hasn't been the case. But still..."
Every time she comes home, with Sin still out in the world, she feels her own failure very keenly. A long look out at the ocean that Sin disappeared into demonstrates this.
She collects and squeezes Tidus' hand.
"Well. No one could have guessed... any of this. I'm just glad to be back here with you. Back then... we didn't really get a chance to spend any time together. You've been to my home, but... I've never shown you my home."
She pauses, uncomfortable.
"Still, it doesn't seem... fair."
Zanarkand's shattered spires -- the bleakness they found there -- reflect in her mismatched eyes.
She looks at Tidus with a worry as soft and gentle as the soundscape, and thinks about his home.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus makes a low sound of acknowledgement when Yuna speaks. He hadn't known that at the time, but now... now, he realizes keenly what the meaning of the long looks Yuna had always given the places they'd been when it had been time to leave. He doesn't consider Sin still being out there her failure--after all, he and the rest of her Guardians had all agreed that Yunalesca's way was a bunch of chocobo dung.
Still, he knows that Yuna's got a massive sense of responsibility--and of compassion. Whenever anyone is hurting, Yuna's hurting too.
He squeezes her hand back. That's the least he can do for her right now, knowing that.
"Heh, yeah. Everything was all completely new to me, and you were just starting on your pilgrimage. Wakka was there, of course, but he was just trying to help me figure out what was what," Tidus replies dryly. His smile warms. "It'll be nice to get a real tour."
Maybe this time the locals won't tell him off. Then again, maybe they'll tell him off even more for being the ultimate bad influence.
His smile dims as she speaks of fairness, though. He understands what she means. She might not have *shown* him her home, but he'll... never be able to show her his. He rubs the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Yeah, well, there's lots of things in life that aren't fair," he says, bracingly, but not without his share of gloom. And though he still doesn't like thinking about his dad even now, he finds he can't help but say, "My old man spent ages taking sphere shots about all the places he went with Auron and your dad, but in the end, he had to accept he wasn't..."
'He wasn't ever going home,' he almost says, but something stops him. "You know. Going to have a fair ending, either," he concludes instead. He takes a step closer to Yuna. "...Anyway, it could be a lot worse. You've done a lot to make me feel welcome." His eyes gentle as his smile returns. "There's worse things than being stuck in Spira, if it means I get to be with you."
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
Yuna listens intently, and doesn't interrupt. She thinks about the Jecht Spheres -- which showed her more of her father, too, than she had ever been able to see as a small child, and nods. No one went home, in the end. Not Jecht, not Braska, and not Auron.
They're just on the verge of the village when Yuna takes the lead; still holding his hand, she cuts in front of him, and pulls him off the main road and onto a tiny and deeply shaded side track.
The timing of this means that he stepped closer to her and she kind of danced away. Pretty playful, for Yuna.
"If we go in that way, we are going to get mobbed," she explains, ducking under a branch heavily laden with island fruit. "I just... don't feel like sharing you, right now."
Or, well, she doesn't feel like being shared with the village, but that isn't polite to say.
The track is full of roots and other obstacles, and requires a certain amount of careful, meticulous hiking. The village huts have been totally lost from sight.
"I'll... be honest," she says, after a while of this. She's in front so the flush beginning to trace across her nose, from cheek to cheek, is easier to feel as heat than see as color. "The last few times I've come here... it hasn't really felt like... home, anymore. I know that sounds ungrateful. Please don't ever tell Wakka."
She looks back over her shoulder, shyly.
"But this time... it does. Because... I don't know when exactly it happened, but..."
She compresses her lower lip with her teeth, turning it white, as though all the paleness in her complexion has fled the blush's advance, into that soft and tender bit of mouth.
"Home is... wherever you are."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
It surprises Tidus a little when Yuna dances away from him, but there's something cute about it anyway. When she admits she doesn't want to share him, he grins. He was willing to accept letting her get mobbed if it meant she got to see her hometown and her neighbors again, but he sure isn't complaining about this, either.
It doesn't occur to him what she really means. Maybe it'll dawn on him later. For now, though, he follows her lead into the side path.
"I never even noticed this path, last time," he comments, pushing up the branch as he treks behind her. A deft twist of his hand, and he grabs a piece of ripe-looking fruit for the both of them to snack on later. "But then, these branches *are* pretty thick. Come to think of it, there's all kinds of ruins up near the beach that I never saw any paths to."
Either way, he hikes after her, following her where she leads--after all, wherever she goes, he'll follow. After a while, he'll crack that fruit in half and offer her one of the pieces. This is pretty sweaty work, after all.
Before he can dig in, though, she speaks. "Yeah?" he prompts, maybe unnecessarily. What she says, though, gets him to blink again in surprise. "I won't," he says even so. Besides... the place she takes that... he can't help but smile all over again. He can't help it. The way she bites her lip, the way her cheeks flush red, is just so charming. He'd say he'd fall in love if he hadn't already fallen for her, but how many times would he have fallen for her by now if that were the case?
"...Thanks, Yuna," he says quietly. "You know... when you put it like that... I feel the same way, too. I used to get crazy homesick all the time, but these days? I'm happy just being with you."
He considers saying that even so, he wouldn't mind settling down with her right here in Besaid sometime. He doesn't. He wants to, but... he doesn't want to be cruel.
He comes to a stop at a ridge. Pushing back some branches gives both of them a fine view of a crystal blue ocean. It's tempting to just dive right in, but it's too far away; he wouldn't be able to climb back up, and he's not going to strand Yuna up here. "Still, as far as places to live go... Besaid really is beautiful," he remarks. "I'd love to go swimming every day in that ocean." His voice, his face, are momentarily wistful; then he brightens. "Hey, have *you* ever wanted to learn how to swim? I could teach you!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
Yuna accepts her half of the fruit gladly, but listens to him rather than dive into it. When he says what he says about being happy together, she gets a little glow about her, and her shy smile becomes a hair less so. It's hard to imagine her beaming, full and unrestrained. After Sin, maybe. Or... maybe not. But this is an expression all for, and only for, Tidus.
Except she's so damn perceptive. When he doesn't quite say more, she politely turns to the process of dismantling her fruit, but he gets a searching look first. She's got the prim manners of a picky eater despite being willing to try anything, and only a little bit of juice escapes her mouth in a bead, to slowly, slowly begin to trickle down her chin.
"I would love that," she says, as to swimming lessons. She doesn't bother denying that she needs them. It's not that she can't swim AT ALL, growing up on an island, but she's no blitzballer, that's for sure; she has a lot to learn from a more serious swimmer.
She follows his gaze out to the view. "You can jump if you want," she offers, apparently following the tenor of his thoughts. "When you're ready to come back up..."
Her only slightly sticky smile turns faintly mischevious. At times like this, the family resemblance to Rikku is extremely obvious.
"Just give the signal."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Maybe one day, yeah. Tidus hopes he'll get to be there to see it. Until then, he'll cherish that sunrise sliver of a smile as the treasure it is.
Except, yes, she is perceptive, and he's a terrible liar. It's technically not a lie if you haven't said anything, but the feelings are still written there on his face. At least he finds something to be cheerful about quickly, and he grins at her assent.
He bites his fruit with gusto, looking down to consider the sea below, then back at Yuna when she invites him to go ahead and jump. He chews quickly and swallows, then says, "Are you sure? I don't wanna leave you here all by yourself!" His grin returns, "Unless you were planning on jumping in after? Man, I know you said you'd love to, but that's even faster than I was expecting! We only just had a bite of this fruit!"
Not that there's any lack of local wildlife that wouldn't be happy to snap it up if they abandon it in the grass. But it's fun to tease her just a little bit, even so. How can he not when she's turning up the impishness, if just a few hairs? (She and Rikku really are alike at times like this. Her cousin's been a good influence on her, for sure.)
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
Yuna gamely takes another bite of fruit. It drips again.
"At this rate we might need the bath," she points out, leaning into the impishness just a little bit more. Her grin doesn't match his for wickedness, but she clearly doesn't mind the teasing.
She walks a little closer to the edge and peers down.
"When I was little, Wakka and Chappu would jump off all the time. But I was too scared."
Looking back at him, the azure-golden light off the sea casts her face into shadow, but it's a lovely shadow. The blues in her summoner's raiment are bluer, the pinks almost orange, the whites gilded.
"But... when I'm with you, I'm not afraid of anything."
If that's really true... then she's not afraid that there's nothing they can do about Sin anymore. Then she really believes in their plans. Then she really believes in... him. And in all of them.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Tidus laughs at what Yuna says about the bath. "This *is* pretty juicy. What's it called?" he asks, just before taking another big bite of his own. It *absolutely* drips, but that's not really a concern anymore at this point.
He takes another bite as she steps over to the edge, talking to him about Wakka and Chappu. Right, Chappu... It'd been so long since he'd come up that Tidus had forgotten he apparently looks just like him. He opts not to comment on that; that's not the point of what Yuna's saying, anyway. Then he tosses the rest into the grass and wipes his mouth on his sleeve. Inelegant, but as Yuna says, they're about to take a bath anyway.
It really is a lovely shadow. Like the moon in midday, pale but still alight with its own soft illumination. Or maybe not the moon, though there's something lunar about her soft skin--because everything about her right now is just more vivid.
She's not afraid. Meaning she believes in him, and all of them. And--as he doesn't need to say--he believes in her, too. He was always scared of being alone, but he's never been less alone than he is now.
His smile turns wistful and tender in equal measure, and he reaches out to take her hand. If they're going to take on Sin, a jump into the ocean is nothing for either of them. "On three, then," he prompts. "One--two--three!"
And on his signal, Tidus will leap off and away from the island path--but only if Yuna's right there in step with him. The water is a deeper blue below, but not fathomless; just deep enough for them to make a splash without worrying about hitting the bottom.
And Tidus *could* stay underwater for as long as he likes. He'll only linger a moment, though, swishing around to meet Yuna's bicolored eyes, before he breaches the surface with an exuberant laugh.
"How'd it feel?" he asks Yuna, grinning as saltwater trickles through his hair and down his bronze skin.
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
"Delicious," Yuna says, of the fruit. That's ONE thing to call it, anyway. She tosses hers along with Tidus' -- let the monkeys have a meal, if they want it. Or the insects. Nothing ever winds up going to waste on the island.
She takes his sticky hand in hers, and--
--shrieks all the way down--
--but it was a happy sound, and a free one--
--until she disappears into the water with a mighty splash!
Her smile is so big, as big as he could have dreamed of, under the water. If only he could see it more clearly.
But she's laughing after she surfaces, laughing sweetly and squinting through the saltwater. Her hair is plastered to her head and she's lucky she didn't lose the longer of her earrings on impact. That would be sad. It's come all the way from this island on her journey. But then, maybe it would be like it coming home.
"It felt like jumping off a Shoopuf," she gasps, getting swamped by a little wave, sputtering, smiling. "Should we do it again?" To hear Kimahri tell it, she could fall into water all day long.
She doesn't want to weigh him down, so she doesn't grab at him. But despite her enthusiasm, she is struggling a little with the weight of her raiment. There IS a lot of it, and it wasn't designed for this sort of thing.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
SPLASH.
And maybe Tidus can't see her clearly underwater, but when the two of them surface, she's laughing, and he starts laughing too, watching her as she simply radiates joy like the moon radiates light. Granted, the moonlight is a reflection--but this time, he's the one reflecting her.
"Oh yeah, you did that like three or four times, didn't you? Kimahri said so," Tidus says, eyes crinkling from the broadness of his grin. "Sure, we can do it as many times as you want! Let's just get back to shore first."
Before he starts swimming that way, though, he looks her over and sees the water bogging down her long sleeves, her long skirt, and his joy becomes tinged with concern. "You okay? I didn't think about how heavy your clothes must get when they're wet," he admits. "If you start to struggle, you can hold onto my back, okay? People are practically weightless underwater, so I can carry us both no problem."
There *is* the danger of pushing him too far underwater, but given how long he can hold his breath, Tidus is frankly not worried about that. Either way, he kicks slowly along the line of the stone and keeps his eye on her to watch for how much help she needs. He doesn't grab at her either, so she can have the chance to try for herself first, but he won't be more than an arm's length away if she needs him.
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
"I'm okay!"
Yuna does her best, and her best gets her most of the way to shore. It helps that it's saltwater. She also finds that despite the heavy fabric, she still has a preponderance of buoyancy... especially when she drifts up onto her back. She rests that way for a minute, floating and staring at the endless sky. She seems to find it more fascinating than the sea. In that way, the two of them differ. But it's a complementary distinction, perhaps, one of them loving the sky and the other the ocean.
For the last few strokes she does hitch a ride on Tidus' back. The greater danger is not in drowning him, but in the considerable distraction of the two of them pressed together like that, her chest to his back... she keeps shyly half-floating back off of him, reluctant to cuddle too close. She scrambles up onto the rocks given the opportunity, then makes sure he's safe and stable. She's still smiling like years have been taken off her life -- in the best way.
"Thanks for the ride," she says, gasping and panting a little from the exertion, though getting her air back does not stop her from shining brightly in the sunlight of her presence.
And then, abruptly, she steps back off the rocks.
With her bare foot atop the water... she doesn't sink.
Turning back, she offers Tidus her hand.
"...my turn."
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Complementary for sure. When Yuna stops to float for a bit, Tidus stops too to watch her with a fond smile, treading water while she takes a break. They move on soon after, and sure enough, Yuna *does* end up very distracting, wet and pressed up against him. It hadn't occurred to Tidus when he'd made the offer, but now that it's happening it has *very much* occurred to him, even with Yuna trying to float to not cuddle too close. They get to shore, and if he's a bit more red-faced than the exertion merits, perhaps he can be forgiven.
The broad, goofy grin is probably somewhat more suspect, though. But then, she's smiling pretty widely too.
"Hehe, you're welcome," he replies, joining her on the shore.
He watches her walk back in towards the water, and for a second, he wonders. After all, she said she wanted to jump in again, so why walk? But when her feet don't actually sink, he abruptly understands--and then she offers him her hand.
"Oh," he utters, taken by surprise. This doesn't stop him from accepting her hand. Not a sliver of doubt enters his mind about the concept of walking on water, or that Yuna could let him do it, too. He's seen her do it, and his trust in her is mutual in its entirety.
Honestly, the concept of walking on water is kind of exciting. It's a bit of a waste, but it's also a new experience--and if Yuna doesn't have to do it after people have died and are in need of Sending, so much the better. Way better.
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
The water feels soft beneath Tidus' feet. Cloudlike. Except, of course, that this is no gas at all.
Yuna's hand feels soft, too. She raises their clasped palms above their heads, then kicks out into a spin -- pirouetting in Tidus' grip. He's seen her do this dance alone countless times. But never with another. Maybe she never has before. Maybe no one ever has.
There are benefits to being a heretic.
The pyreflies still love her; love her most of all, some might say. They surge beneath their feet like a school of ghostly fish. They keen softly in their whites and pinks and violets, but not unhappily; more like whalesong than ghostsong.
Yuna's eyes close in concentration; she spins faster, her wet-heavy garments shedding spray with unreasonable speed; it billows like steam among the brine, upwards, upwards.
They're both traveling upwards, on a glowing column. Light -- LIGHT.
And then they're back on the edge of the cliff. The column is flowing back downward to rejoin the sea. The pyreflies, dispersing. Yuna, for her part, is panting again from exertion, and one gets the feeling it isn't from the dancing per se but a greater exercise, a spiritual one. Probably she shouldn't jump back in right away. But she doesn't seem ready to let go of Tidus' hand, either.
She looks up at him. A tiny bit of uncertainty lingers in her eyes. For someone who danced with such confidence -- a summoner at the height of her powers -- in the aftermath, she is shy again.
"I hope that was... okay," she says, weariness making her voice especially breathy. "Did you... like it?"
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
It's a weird feeling, to say the least. But it's not bad. No, it's not bad at all, especially as Yuna pulls him into a dance. Tidus laughs in delight as he follows her, not even thinking about the heresy of it all--but then, he always did watch the Yevon faith from the perspective of an outsider. He did learn to at least not actively do heretical things so as not to cause Yuna trouble, but he never played along with it, either. Even something harmless like praying to a statue.
So dancing like this on the water, like it's their own personal ballroom floor? He's all for it. The pyreflies might be here for Yuna more than him, but they make an amazing backdrop as the two of them spin and shimmy, until the water--the light--surges up beneath them, bringing them up to the cliffside.
Tidus, knowing how much concentration Yuna must be pouring into this, is the first one off so he can help her along. For a moment, he watches the column as it ebbs and sinks and the pyreflies as they drift away. Then he grins over at Yuna, blue eyes sparkling.
"Okay? Yuna, that was *incredible*! What a thrill!" he gushes. "I'm so glad I got to do that with you!"
For a second, his eyes soften. Then, already holding one of her hands, he takes the other in her grip and looks into her eyes.
"I'll never forget this. For as long as I live," he murmurs to her with wholehearted sincerity. "I love you, Yuna."
This day--this experience--will be a part of him forever. For however long that may be.