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Current Location: Sunleth Waterscape, Library of the Ancients

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[Text | voice- locked from baddies]

[And with one simple video, Celes' world has turned upside down again and she's not sure what to think. Gaia is messing with her now. Time was, she'd have rushed straight over to see him, but now... that's just what she needs: time. So she does the natural thing and high-tails it out of Figaro on foot in the middle of the night.

She doesn't leave without shooting off a couple of locked text feeds first, though.

Edgar:
Something's come up. I'm leaving for a few days. Don't try to find me. I won't be gone long.

and Terra:
I'm not in Figaro right now, but can we talk? Text, voice, or in person, I don't care.

After that, she flicks on her Sky Phone to announce her departure to the rest of Gaia via voice post.]

If anyone needs me, I'm leaving Figaro for a few days. Call it cabin fever. I won't be gone long.

[For the early hours of the morning, she will be getting herself beaten up in the Sunleth Waterscape, as per her usual coping mechanisms. Once the sun starts peeking out, she'll head off somewhere else where she won't be found as easily, tucking herself among shelves of books and actually reading to pass the time.

After a while, she gets up the nerve to text Balthier.
We need to talk. Phone or in person, it doesn't matter.]

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[He assumes as much -- Celes has never been shy about letting him know when affection is unwarranted during their previous meetings, and he doubts very much that such behavior would change now. He lightly squeezes her hand, pulling his own chair a bit closer.]

What were you reading?

[She either doesn't notice his move or is simply ignoring it for now. Her gaze turns to the book, which she nudges toward him with her free hand.]

Nothing really, just comparing technological advancements between this library and home. It's interesting. Passes the time easily enough.

[He accepts the book with genuine interest, pulling at it so that it rests between them on the table, rather than directly in front of either one of them. He examines the open page, eyebrow quirked.]

Fascinating. I'll be honest, I hadn't taken the time to visit this place until now. Seems a shame. I could easily spend days here.

I'm not much of a book person usually, not like this. [Which is why she chose this place.] I figured a change of pace might be nice.

[she glances at him.] You're a library person?

[He smiles, making an effort to appear enigmatic for effect.]

I was quite a lot of things before I became a sky pirate. A science person, as well as an avid book person.

Edited 2011-05-23 03:25 (UTC)

[She squints at him for a few moments, as though sizing him up.]

I know we've... talked about our respective pasts, but... I still feel like there's a lot about you that I don't know.

[Gods all curse everyone for making her so soft and caring... and curious about other people.]

That night was about you. I thought it might not be the best time to share all the details of my colorful history. [He wasn't quite prepared to talk about it openly yet, either, but he leaves that much unsaid.]

I don't mean to sound conceited, but I was considered quite the prodigy in Archades. My father wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I rather wanted the same, until he went mad.

And we both had our reserves by then. [Meaning she had her own problems with explaining everything if it didn't tell him she wasn't someone to mess with.]

Sounds like being prodigies is another thing we have in common. [His father, hm? She tosses him a cautiously curious look.] Though I can't say I ever really knew my parents. I grew up in the Empire, deep in the Empire.

As did I. [He pauses, carefully considering his next words.] And Dr. Cid made sure I stayed deep within the Archadian Empire every step of the way.

[That makes her eyes widen in surprise. Well... that explains a lot. But she can't really fault him. After all, look what she grew up with.]

...I never would have guessed, though I never did know him personally. He... had some of the same qualities that made Kefka so dangerous, but I think Kefka was a bit more off his rocker than Dr. Cid.

That was part of what made him so dangerous. He was mad, to be sure... but he had enough control to continue to pursue his lust for nethicite with a single-mindedness that was... truly frightening. [He frowns.]

He sold me into military servitude to gain himself leverage; had me made a Judge. I was sixteen.

Kefka was too mad to care what he was doing. [He was bad enough.]

But you didn't stick with that any more than I stayed a general of an Empire that slaughtered its people. [Being forced to lay fire to Maranda had changed her.]

[He shakes his head.]

I couldn't stay there. I had watched his steady descent into madness over a matter of years. It was the last straw. I abandoned the Judges less than a year later and stole the prototype of a ship I had helped design when I had worked in aeronautics. Redesigned the ship so it wouldn't be recognizable, changed my name and took to piracy instead. It was about as far from being the star of Draklor Laboratory as I could get.

[There's another long pause as he questions whether or not to go further.]

I didn't see him again for four years or so. Not until I found myself a part of Princess Ashelia's struggle to reclaim Dalmasca from the Empire. He had fallen even father than I had expected, willing to go to any lengths to...

[He frowns again, discreetly fussing with his shirtcuffs.] We were forced to confront him more than once. In the end, I put him down.

[She listens silently, taking in what he's saying in quiet support. She understands what it's like to admit things, to show weakness like this. She doesn't prod him when he pauses, glancing back at the books to give him space until he continues. When he starts messing with his shirtcuffs, she hesitates... and then places a hand on his wrist. For comfort. Because she understands.]

I wasn't lying when I said I'd laid waste to innocent people before. [At least his hadn't been innocent.] But when I turned against the Empire, I turned against everything and everyone I'd grown up with. I know what that's like... to lose people important to you... to be unable to save them.

I cannot recall anything else so difficult. [He offers a small nod, agreeing. The past can be difficult to talk about, and he thinks it's clear enough that this isn't particularly easy for either of them.] I've not spoken of it so plainly before.

For both of us. [She wants to say something to comfort him, anything, but all she has is a story of her own. Still, maybe it'll say that she understands.]

Kefka destroyed the world... He didn't blow it up or anything, but... he as good as did that. By disrupting the Warring Triad, he unleashed power so great it rearranged the continents. I've... only heard about it, but I did see the mess the little island was in.

[She pauses, not moving her hand from his wrist.]

When I woke up, Grandpa told me it was a year later. The world was in ruin and it was Kefka's fault. Grandpa had nursed me back to health... at the expense of his own life. I couldn't save him.

[At this point, she does pull away, looking in the other direction and sitting back in her chair. Even after all these years, it still hurts to admit that she couldn't help someone who had saved her.]

I'm sorry. [Though he knows better than most that the words can never be enough to ease that particular pain. Only time will do the trick, if anything at all.]

... perhaps we have more in common than we initially thought. [That was saying something, to say the least.]

Mmm. [She doesn't offer the sympathy much attention, as she doesn't generally like it for herself. She does, however, at least glance at him to show that she appreciates the sentiment.]

Sounds like we do. That's more than I can say for a lot of people I've met. [In some respects, it's nice, but it also sucks for them both.]

[His sentiments echo her own.]

While I must admit that it's nice to be able to talk about such things without worrying whether or not the other person will understand, it's unfortunate that we both had to suffer in order to reach such a point.

[She nods, running a hand through her hair.]

I was hoping someday Gaia would be the end of that kind of thing. Turns out I was wrong.

[Feeling restless again, she stands and turns toward the bookshelves behind her. This whole thing is a mess and she has no idea how to take it. She should have known better than to get comfortable in any capacity in Gaia.]

[He frowns as he slowly rises to his feet. While he certainly doesn't feel unwelcome, he feels as though his extended presence may only make things more difficult at this point, especially with his own newfound difficulties with keeping things from getting too personal. Being so sharing was a very recent development, and one he had a feeling he might come to regret before long. He hoped not.]

It seems as though Gaia is full of surprises. I think perhaps I should take my leave.

[ Everything is making her life more difficult. That's the problem for her. She glances back at him as she hears him rise. ]

Only if you want to.

[ Not helpful, Celes. ]

I should... thank you for being so understanding.

Truth be told, I don't want to... but I believe that may be precisely why I should, if that makes any sense. [He shakes his head briefly.]

Of course I understand.

It does. [She looks back at the books in front of her and sighs. Sob her life these days.] You're probably right.

[He takes a few steps forward, closing the distance between them.]

One thing before I go, if I may?

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