closed ⚡🪶 and forevermore, i'll be chasing the storm we had.

[garudas]

Who: Benedikta Harman & Cidolfus Telamon.
Status: Closed.
Where: Cid's workshop, Avaleci.
What: Cid is sad about his daughter being gone and Benedikta is horrible at being comforting. Also adventures later!
Warnings: it's cid and benna 🙂 also ffxvi spoilers, if you can find them.

ice skating, hot springs ♨️
volcano, egis 🔥
the price of freedom 🧵

Comments

[ramuhs]

[He knows he isn't, but he's still a little agitated so he's being mean and having her suffer with him—]

I have plenty, no worries about that. You on the other hand...

[His lips travel, smirking against her skin as his hands tease her warm skin, drifting up towards her chest...]

[garudas]

[Back arching, she pulls back to meet his eyes, her hand searching for his wrist so that she can snatch it in hers. There's something of a scolding look about her, though the fire in her gaze could easily burn it away.]

I've plenty, don't worry about me.

[Whether she still will once he's finished his repayment in the morning is another matter entirely, but that is a problem for tomorrow Benedikta.

Right now, she knows he needs his rest, so she threads her fingers with his to keep them from wandering any further. To keep her from falling any further under his spell... though, perhaps it's already too late for that.]

Besides... there was something I wanted to ask you...

[ramuhs]

[And caught, however he won't try to escape, his eyes instead alight with playful amusement. He is so very tempted to press his lips to her neck, to keep descending and testing to see how much longer she can keep up her defenses. But at her words, his head tilts slightly.]

What is it?

[After everything they had just shared and discussed... He wondered what it could be.]

[garudas]

[That tip of his head could do things to her all on her own, and she is tempted to just throw everything away and be content with just kissing him. And she will be, but first—]

You'd mentioned all of those things before coming to Valisthea...

[As a child, and then as he grew.

Her voice grows soft, that passion fading into pure and unadulterated affection.]

You never told me much about it... those times... Why?

[ramuhs]

[...Ah.

There's something that flickers in his gaze—something unknown, unclear that makes his expression something pensive and contemplative before he answers.]

Not really much to say.

[And there he goes, deflecting and avoiding. But given that she opened up to him, it's only fair if he does the same.]

And not exactly a lot of proud moments to share.

[garudas]

[Deflecting and avoiding, a bad habit that they both have a hard time breaking, it seems.

But she won't push him, and only places a kiss to the corner of his mouth, trying to do her best to comfort him in the only way she can.]

As if either of us have many proud moments to share?

[ramuhs]

[Now isn't she being sweet...

He can't help but smile a little more crookedly at that, finding her gestures too adorable.]

What would you like to know?

[garudas]

[She gives him a coy look.]

... Everything?

[But she knows that's a bit too broad, even if that is the right answer. He knows everything there is to know about Benedikta's past, isn't it fair that she knew all about his?]

What about how you learned the sword?

[ramuhs]

[A wry chuckle because that is very broad, so having a starting point helps.]

Hmm...

[He thinks for a moment, recalling that time.]

Bit of a story to that. There was an old swordmaster in town. Stodgy fellow, kept to himself, and other kids would try and play pranks so he'd chase them off with his old sword in one hand and a half-emptied bottle of ale in another.

Not me, of course.

[Quickly added as if to try and paint himself as the good little boy who wouldn't do such things.]

But one day those kids took it too far. Stole his old pocket watch and hid it somewhere. He was might upset about it, but in a different way. Not just angry, but actually asking for help when he normally didn't. Now I was a wee lad, not knowing much and didn't know what was happening. But I remembered seeing them huddled around the muck pile, sniggering up to no good.

My dad was a stablehand so I was used to handling shovels. Dug it up, cleaned it, and fixed it.

[A small laugh at that.]

At the time I was already tinkering around anything with a broken gear or cog so I was mighty pleased with myself. Granted, I shouldn't have touched it to begin with because I could have made it worse, but my interest got the better of me.

So, next day I returned it.

[garudas]

[She listens intently, her eyes never leaving his face as he explains, watching for every little shift in his expression. She grins at his correction, huffs a laugh along with him, and not once does her fondness fade. After finding out what really happened, that he still loved her even when she thought he no longer did, it's a bit strange seeing him in this new light. There is still much to work through, and she knows that a part of it is simply being lost in the moment, but her heart races with a whole new meaning as he tells her one of his many stories.

Ones that she longed to hear back then, as they clashed their swords on the practice field.]

So, you were a goodie two shoes, even back then...

[She says it quietly with a laugh, her finger grazing over his cheek.]

Why am I not surprised...

[ramuhs]

I just had decent moral compass.

[He definitely wasn't a mischievous, cheeky brat, too, noooo couuurse noooot.]

[garudas]

[Yeah, she's not sure she buys that—]

And let me guess... it was your decent moral compass that earned you the favour of the swordsmaster?

[ramuhs]

Is it really so surprising?

[A huff.]

Though he thought I was the bugger who stole the thing in the first place. Was running screaming when he drew that sword, but the moment he realized I was returning it and fixed it, well. Sang a much different tune then. Practically bowing his head in gratitude.

[Okay, he is definitely exaggerating.]

[garudas]

[She tilts her head at him.]

Well, you do have that look about you...

[ramuhs]

What? Me?

[garudas]

Is it really so surprising?

[She echoes his words with a chuckle, rolling away from him to lie on her back.]

That roguish, troublemaking sort of look.

[ramuhs]

I wasn't born with it. But I was good looking young lad.

[Hmph.]

In any case. [He leans towards her still on his side.] Turns out it was a watch from his old mate from the old wars, so in repayment of not only finding but fixing it, he taught me how to use the sword and most of my skills. Go out to the old fields where no one could bother us, and he'd tell me his old war stories.

[garudas]

[She grins at him when he leans at her, that same roguish, troublemaking glint in her own eyes.]

And still with the half-drunk bottle of ale in his other hand, or...?

[ramuhs]

Only sometimes. [A wink.] But old as he was, he still knew his stuff.

[garudas]

Well, he had to have known what he was doing, drunk and old or not.

[She turns partway again to face him, her hair falling over her eyes.]

... If I had learned from the best, he had to have learned it from someplace, yes?

[And now for a different tack—]

You had practiced your tinkering before that, then? If you managed to fix his watch...

[ramuhs]

[A light grin.]

Something like that. Not always successful, mind, but I enjoyed puzzles and putting things together for as long as I can remember.

[garudas]

Of course you have. No wonder you've a knack for it these days.

[She gives a light roll of her eyes, but it's more playful.]

Even during your mercenary days? I can't imagine that it would be easy while on the move.

[ramuhs]

[Aaah... A small glance away.]

No, you're right. Was a bit more limited there, especially at that age and those times. Still, I took whatever opportunity I could to observe and learn how everything around me worked, even if it was just the basic understanding. Forges, irrigation, ships, building.

As you know, the Outer Continents didn't have the Mothercrystals so we didn't have crystals or Bearers as readily as Valisthea did.

[garudas]

But you made do.

[They had to have. Valisthea, on the other hand, was a world not ready for a life without Mothercrystals and the magic that came with them, and there is a bit of a sour taste on her tongue at the thought that she quickly swallows down. She did not like the idea of a land without magic, and she wonders, briefly, how she might have felt about his ideals back then if she had known.]

What made you decide to cross the sea anyway back then?

[ramuhs]

[A small pause before he slowly continues.]

Limitations.

[Again that odd, distant look as his gaze moves elsewhere.]

I was young, still trying to figure out how to survive and what to do. Jobs weren't easy to come by at my level, and I traveled from different towns with different groups, taking whatever I could. Then we hear about the wars happening in Valisthea and for a Sells word with barely anything to your name, well, you follow the money.

So I took the first ship I could. Thought I'd have better luck somewhere else and start fresh. It wasn't even to help with the wars but for the jobs that would come after. Crime would be higher, escorts needed, replace bodies lost in the wars. Perfect time for a mercenary.

And I was curious what this so called "blessed land" was all about.