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Entry tags:
closed 🪶⚡ in this world of ours, safe to be the one you are...
Who: Benedikta Harman & Cidolfus Telamon.
Status: Closed.
Where: Cid's apartment, crew island.
What: Cid's birthday, some quest stuff, a bounty goes sideways, and so does a certain conversation...
Warnings: The usual CidBenna stuff. :)
Status: Closed.
Where: Cid's apartment, crew island.
What: Cid's birthday, some quest stuff, a bounty goes sideways, and so does a certain conversation...
Warnings: The usual CidBenna stuff. :)
happy birthday, mister captain 🍰
otterly ridiculous 🦦
cid the menace ⚡
downburst ⛈️
🍰 april 7th.
Though, she wonders if he even remembers, or thinks anything of it at all.
At least she's managed to clean the kitchen up so that there's not a spot or sign that anything had happened in there earlier... or gone wrong.
So, here she is... It's late, well into the night, and she wonders where he could be. She knew that he would be there later than usual, but this...? She's almost tempted to fly there and check on him herself, but she is far too tired for even that. It's been a very long and trying day...
Her sigh wakes Bidowlfin up briefly, and he gives a little hoot hoot? in question as he tilts his head at her, and Benedikta reaches back to scratch gently at his chin.]
... Where is he?
[But by the time he returns, she'll have finally fallen asleep on the couch. It's not a deep sleep by any means, more of a closing her eyes to rest them while she waits, as she listens for the door to swing open.]
no subject
But he handled it, and it's not until late, late into the night does he finally trudge back to his apartment, the door creaking open (he should oil that...) and shutting close as he tosses his keys and wallet to the bowl he uses to store his things. He can hear Bidowlfin's little hoots and flap of his wings in greeting, and Ashtail...doesn't even bother looking, remaining in her perch.
Stepping in further, he sees Benedikta on the couch, and it's still a bit of a strange feeling—mostly because she's usually not the one waiting for him like this. Yet seeing her there, even as she starts to shift and wake, there's an odd, ticklish feeling. One that makes his feet trudge straight to her—
—and practically fall on top of her, arms around her waist with face nuzzling her chest.
No shame, this man.]
no subject
She hears his keys and wallet go into the bowl as they always do, hears his heavy gait move across the room towards her...
What she isn't expecting is for him to drop on top of her where she lies stretched across the couch, and that gets her to jolt a little with a tiny "oof—". She doesn't even get the chance to move before his arms are around her and his face is buried... right into her chest.
No shame at all.
It's now that she opens her eyes and looks down at the top of his head, one hand ruffling his hair while the other shakes him gently.]
Cidolfus? What are you doing?
no subject
[Just a low murmur, his arms tightening around her. If he were more awake he may wonder at how having her here and this soft warmth if already doing wonders to make him feel relaxed and whole again, but it seems the moment he embraced her, all the exhaustion had fallen with him, weighing him down like a heavy anchor.]
Tired.
[His voice already sounds rough and groggy, that one word just a low mumble.]
no subject
[That hand that had been shaking him pats him stiffly on the back before wrapping around him properly, and her voice softens.]
Do you have any idea how late it is?
no subject
Though whether that's a good idea to do on the couch—]
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Cidolfus...
[Another shake, and Bidowlfin hoots as well.]
We can't sleep out here.
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✨ timeskip to the next morning ✨
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🦦
Which is why it's a bit of a surprise when Cid invites her out to one of the many secluded beaches that have yet to be explored, and with a basket, no less. Curious, indeed... She has no idea what he is plotting, but curiosity gets the better of her, and she goes along with it anyway.
Not that she minds, of course. Things have been quite busy this month, and she would take any moment alone in the peace and quiet with him that she can get.
Once she's able to hear the sounds of the beach and smell the salt of the ocean a little more on the wind, signalling that they are just about there, she finally motions down to the basket.]
So, is this just a simple... outing, then? What is the occasion?
[As if he's ever needed one.]
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What, I can't just invite you out for a lovely afternoon out on the beach?
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Not without me asking questions when I know there is still work to be done.
[She gives an arrogant toss of her head, and a sashay of her hips to bump his.]
... Not that I am willing to do any of it myself, of course. This is not my crew, after all.
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[Though he finds it amusing how it feel as if he's the one pulling her away from work when usually it's the other way around.
Granted. She's also not quite wrong in their being a "catch" of sorts. Yes, he's heading for the beach and wants to spend time relaxing with her...
...
But it's also where some boats and old shipwreckes were said to be found and he might also be curious about them—]
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[Benedikta's arm wraps tighter around his, and she pulls him closer against her side.]
You jump to conclusions far too quickly, Cidolfus. You know I hate seeing you work so much.
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⚡
Would it be worth it all in the end? She certainly hoped so, but she supposes if she were able to drive her sword through the eyes of the people who put out that bounty in the first place, she would be happy with that much. She isn't very difficult to please in times like this—the good money was a bonus.
Even more so when the bounty turns from wanted alive to "dead or alive", what with his number of successful breakouts. Honestly, she's tempted to just go ahead with killing them regardless, but... the coin would be good for them, she supposes. Or for her. She would do it after. Along with any others who have become aggressive enough to try and get in on the payout, especially Corsairs, that she figured would be coming.
And that is why she insisted that she was the best equipped for the final run. Should they get ambushed, who else better to trust and handle it than her? With the power of two Eikons, surely they could take care of it should a situation arise?
Of course, they are smart about it. She would never dare bring her own boat, and instead, she brings Cid on his, the winds helping to push them to the new prison that they have tucked away on a remote island not far from where Nogard swims. She already knows what to expect, having scoped it out herself just the day before. It's quite the impressive place, the cells carved deep into the tall mountains that fill the island. They might be hard to find, but that is what her wings are for, and better yet, that tether of their aether that continues to bind them together.
When she brought him in earlier that night, it was with his sword to his throat and the face of a bird masking her eyes beneath the shroud of a hood. She doesn't speak, not wanting to rouse suspicion, but the guards on watch suspect nothing—the woman that he's been seen with would never dare hold a sword to his throat, would she?
Though, capable as she knows they are, she is still nervous to leave him behind, especially when they throw those anti-magick cuffs on him, and she has half a mind to blow her cover right then and there to blast them as far into the ocean as Garuda will allow. Which is pretty fucking far.
Unfortunately, he will be left there for several hours, until the next shift change. Not that the guards are paying much attention, but better to be safe than sorry. They are far too comfortable with their fortified mountain cells that they do not think about what his fellow Dominants can do to them.
When the moon is highest in the sky and the island is near silent, he'll feel the prick of her presence before the winds sweep in, kicking up dust and leaves as she swoops low between the narrow spaces of the rocks into the cavern where they are keeping him.
And as soon as she sees him, her wings disappear and she rushes up to the cell bars first to check on him.]
Cidolfus.
[The unasked question of "are you alright" is clear in her eyes.]
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And it won't be pretty.]
I'm all right, just looks worse than it is.
[Of course most of the bruises wouldn't be visible, but that's all they are—bruises and none he hasn't had worse of before.]
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You always say that, and it is always worse than it looks.
[She gives the bars a shake, but they hardly budge.]
Can you stand?
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[How bad they are, well, he can still heal it on his own.
Just ignore the wince as he gets his feet under him to stand, having to do this without much hand support due to the cuffs on him.]
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And they've clapped you in irons, too. As if this god-awful cell was not enough.
[Anger twists in her chest, burning hot.]
Anti-magic?
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[He half raises his hand to instinctively grab his shoulder and stretch it, but has to stop halfway when he remembers he can't reach it. Instead he rolls his neck as he walks over to her, smiling at her with that usual laidback reassurance before glancing past her.]
And the guards?
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⛈️ downburst » the morning of may 4th
...
"Both of you, loyal servants to the very end. You have my thanks, Garuda. Please give my regards to Ramuh."
[It was all a flurry after that. The Phoenix was fortunate enough that she did not tear Ultima from him then and there before the god could scurry back to hide, but as the blackened flames faded, she was in far too much shock to even think of sinking her claws into him before he vanished. She was reeling from the hundreds of questions that formed, but they were all quickly shoved back by the anger that threatened to immediately boil over. Garuda rattled at her rib cage, screaming louder than she's ever screamed, and the strength of the winds grew with every pulse of her aether.
After Joshua had lost consciousness, she flew him down on the back of a gryphon and called for Ifrit. Screamed for him in the center of the Roost. Threatened to indiscriminately drive her sword through anyone who stood around and gawked at her instead. And once Joshua had been shoved onto his brother, it was a matter of finding Cid, and she knew exactly where he would be.
It's not as if he'd be able to go far, but it didn't matter. She would fly across the world to see him right now; she would destroy anything and anyone that got in her way to get there... and not for the reasons that one might think. Not for reasons that she wishes to.
Like she is made of a storm herself, she moves through The Roost, her every footstep like thunder, the wind beating at her back as that unquelled, unfettered rage builds within, with only one place to go—out and around her.
The things that she had heard from Ultima could not possibly be true.
He was a mere god living inside the Phoenix, and a god that Benedikta certainly did not place her full faith in. What would he know about anything? What would he know of Cidolfus, and of her? ... Of Barnabas? No, he was trying to trick her, to drive a wedge between her and Cid. For what reason, she did not know. And what had he meant by eviscerating the Dominants?
No.
Why would he lie to her about this? After everything they have been through after she woke up on that ship, after all of the promises, the fights, the tears, the hurts that got them to where they are now?
And why would Barnabas do that? She was loyal to him; she gave up everything for him.
There was no way.
Yet, as she moves, as she sees his door come into view, she knows that she is landing right into Ultima's palm and feeding into those lies, but there is that seed of doubt that grows and grows, and with it, a fury she's never known. Tears that start to burn her eyes and blur the edges of her vision, her chest tightening and lungs suffocating as it finds its chokehold on her. She tries to chain it down, at least long enough to get answers, but it's a losing battle.
Once she arrives, Cid's door will fly open before she even reaches it, and her eyes are wide as they search the room for him, and she doesn't even wait to find him before she shrieks his name.]
Cidolfus!?
no subject
Even before she arrived uneasiness had filled him, a familiar sense of dread as of something ominous was about to occur—like a storm that threatened on the horizon but one no one could be sure when it would break. It was a dread fueled not by his own intuition, but of the Eikon that stirred within him. After what happened with the bounty hunters, Ramuh had been silent again, but now as if awakened by whatever slumber it had puts itself under, Cid can feel it. The pricks and tingles like static as if trying to keep him alert.
But for what?
That he could not parse and the Eikon was frustratingly never clear, and all he could do was pace around his room before trying to do some work, try to settle the uneasiness so that he could better prepare for whatever may drop on him. Not like he can very well do much in his condition. While enough time has passed for his wounds to close and the stitches removed, the internal damage was still significant even with all the medicines and healing magic. Thus while he was allowed to move, he was still ordered to not go out much and rest as much as possible.
However, upon hearing Benedikta's screams he could only swear as he wonders what the bloody hell happened to upset her so much...and if this was why Ramuh was stirring. Had the Eikon sensed Garuda? Thoughts swirl through his mind as he feels her aether bursting at the seams as she approaches, and when she throws open the door he can only stare up at her from his desk where he was currently half sitting against, as if waiting for her.
But not knowing what was going on, he just looks at her concerned, now better able to see more clearly how she looks and the aether swirling around her. He doesn't need Ramuh for his own uneasiness to grow from that.]
All right, what happened?
no subject
She stares him down for a moment, disbelief writing itself across her features, finding a way through the anger that's turned her face red.]
What happened? What happened!?
[He should know exactly what happened. Exactly the thing that could make her this upset... or perhaps he doesn't because it isn't true. He wouldn't have kept it a secret from her... Still, she can't quite bring herself to believe anything just yet.]
How can you be so calm about this!?
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No, it's only worsened.
He's just good at hiding it.]
Might help if you could tell me what "this" is.
[He straightens from where he is and takes a step towards her.]
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You know what "this" is.
[Is he playing dumb with her? Or does he truly not know? Was it all a lie?]
... Is it true, Cidolfus?
no subject
...
Until there's a slight look of realization that strikes him like lightning, Ramuh's rumblings growing louder and louder in his mind.
She knows.
It's the only thing that makes sense and that blank look and hesitation may be all the answer she needs.]
Benedikta, I—
[How? Who told her?]
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