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year 5, quarter 3
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The thought played on repeat, again and again as Celes wrapped up her business in Provo, carefully placed the remaining flyers and other job search paraphernalia in a storage closet, wrote a letter to Yuna explaining the situation, and then rented a chocobo. An airship would have been faster, and everything in her urged her to take the next ship out of port, but she had to remind herself that Terra wasn’t going anywhere (most likely, at least) and that it was better to save the gil now than to regret it later.
Life in the military had taught her many things. That she was useless if she wasn’t producing results. That her best results could be achieved with a sword in her hand. It had taught her to be assertive and cold and difficult to reach, but it had also taught her patience and frugality. Some of those lessons had been more useful than others.
The journey took two weeks thanks to the springtime rains and muddy roads. She was almost glad to reach the blistering heat past Torensten’s border where the palm trees swayed and bushes grew rampant with strange tropical fruit she still couldn’t identify. The sunlight was brutal as the sun reached its apex, and she had no choice but to find the best shade she could in the withered dry season and let her chocobo rest. It was at those times with her back against a tree trunk, watching the bird preen its feathers and lap up whatever water it could from the scattered puddles about the place that the thoughts struck Celes like merciless ocean waves.
Terra was here, they said. Terra was here all along, and you did nothing to find her.
It had been years since they’d last met. It must have been…nearly four years since they’d last promised to meet up again soon. Then Chaos had struck Torensten and Celes had found herself thrust back in a whirlwind of her own panic and isolation. She’d taken solace in another soldier who had saved her from the flames of a collapsing building, but then he too was gone and she’d found herself alone again. Alone until she’d found Caius. The Dragonblades. By the end of it all, she could have sworn her meeting with Terra had been nothing more than a dream.
A vivid dream. A dream like all the others. She’d wake up in the night certain she’d met Edgar on a beach somewhere and had run to him, thrusting her arms around him in her loneliness and relief only for reality to sink in that she was once again in her apartment in Torensten, alone. She’d dreamt that she’d found Relm in the marketplace and that she’d had to learn, somehow, how to care for a child on her own and that she’d proven a terrible cook. Strangest of all, she dreamt of a crashed airship on the outskirts of the city which proved to be Setzer’s transformed into a grounded casino to swindle a little more gil out of those passing by. All of them dreams. All of them gone like a wisp of smoke when her eyes opened and her mind caught up to her and she realized that she was truly alone outside of those who couldn’t possibly understand her.
She hadn’t been ready for that kind of companionship when she’d met Terra nearly four years prior. She’d gone her own way, half-convinced that everything she was experiencing was nothing but a hopeful nightmare to torment her as part of Kefka’s deranged fun. She hadn’t been in her right mind. And so when she hadn’t heard a thing of Terra in all that time…When the dreams of the others were always so very real…
You forgot about her, the thoughts sneered. You always have a habit of forgetting Terra.
Then she’d silence the thoughts with a shake of her head, saddle her chocobo, and be on her way.
She felt slightly nauseous by the time she approached the city’s edge. What was she going to say to Terra? What even could she say? It sounded as though the half-esper woman had spent the last several years out of control in her monstrous state which certainly seemed like something that someone would have seen and sent through a chain of city gossip, but then again, maybe Terra had flown off to somewhere secluded. This world had no shortage of wilderness to nestle into if one were so inclined. She couldn’t help but imagine Terra, glowing pink with her own inherent power, curled naked and alone amongst taiga forests of the Sonoran wilderness. Even if Celes had remembered her, even if she’d sent out every search party imaginable, they wouldn’t have had a chance of crossing paths there.
But what was she supposed to say? After all this time, that was the real question.
Celes was welcomed warmly by some at the Wyvern’s Rest and coolly by others. That was the way it always was. Some recruits took her harsh instruction well while others still had pride that needed breaking. Oh well. She said her hellos and strode up to the front desk where the secretary Caius had hired (what was her name – Tamatoa?) looked up from her work and greeted her without much surprise. Celes’ letter must have arrived before she did.
”Caius is out,” the secretary said. ”He left this for you.” She slid a letter towards her, and Celes opened it, frowning.
”Oh.” The letter didn’t take long to read. She learned, for one thing, that the secretary’s name was Tomoe and that Caius expected to be gone for some time. She also learned that Terra had a room here now, and she tensed wondering if she’d be interrupted at any moment while she was still uncertain what to say. The rest was more of Caius’ wishful thinking as far as Celes was concerned. Courtyard reinforcements? For what? If someone was capable of fighting a god then they didn’t need any more training as far as she was concerned. It was a waste of money and resources, but that was a matter for another time. A time when Caius was in front of her again and they could argue like they always tended to when it came to the Dragonblades. He had skill, charisma, and a boundless stride towards expansion. She had actual administrative and military experience. These tendencies were often set to collide, and she didn’t look forward to breaking the news that once again she disagreed with his priorities.
He also wanted her to check in on his new friends, but that could wait until she’d settled in. Because Terra was here. If not in this building at the moment then certainly she’d be back before nightfall. Celes’ stomach churned at the thought. Anxiety, guilt, anticipation. Those were just the first emotions she could identify before she gave up entirely. She didn’t ask if Terra was here, now, at this moment, but instead folded up the letter and strode outside to the courtyard where, true to Caius’ written words, some of the more senior recruits were running drills. They looked up at her in surprise as she approached, but she just unsheathed her sword and took to a corner by herself. She felt better with the weight of the runic blade in her hand. As she adjusted her stance and struck the practice dummy before her, it felt easy. Natural. After a quarter of an hour of this, she shrugged off her yellow jacket to keep the heat at bay and continued, striking again and again just as she’d been taught so that the panic wouldn’t creep in and destroy her.
Terra was here. Celes had come. Now the only question was who would find who first.
Post by Terra Branford on Apr 25, 2023 18:14:48 GMT -6
Terra had been out and about. Wandering the city with the small stipend that Tomoe had insisted that she was entitled to. Even though she had told the woman that all she required was the room and the food that was offered each day. It made her uncomfortable to argue with her so she decided against it and after leaving the Rest with Lightbringer on her hip she headed out. Wandering from one shop to another she found herself a new leather satchel to carry the other things that she was going to purchase inside of. Having gone from one store to another and then another she found herself returning to the home base of the Dragonblades.
Entering the front door she was greeted by the woman to whom Terra gave a smile and tossed her a new book to read. There was nothing saying she couldnt just buy gifts for the other members instead of spending it all on herself. So she had gotten the woman a book and herself a few things. Yet it was something that Tomoe said that made her stop in her tracks and freeze. “Celes has returned Miss Terra.”
Every inch of her body felt cold as if she was staring down at Kefka once more. Yet with that feeling coursing through her she knew that this day was coming. One way or another she was going to have to speak with one of the few people that Terra actually would consider closer than friends to her. Swinging the satchel from on her shoulder she placed it onto the main desk and with a few warm words spoke up. ”Miss Tomoe can you put this away for me… I do not think I should make Celes wait for too long.”
As she finished speaking she set it down and exited the main entrance lobby and she walked through the hallway and common areas til she was at the door for the training area. It seemed that her friend had lost no time in getting back to training. It was with a nibbling of trepidation in her mind that she turned the knob on the door and opened it up with a creak from the door loud enough to be heard between swings of Celes’s Runic Blade. Stepping out from the shadow of the door Terra could not help but stand there in the sun of the open air training area.
Her stomach was in knots as she took in a deep breath and looked at her friend. “Celes…” Her word came out barely audible as there was so much that was fighting within her in the moment. As their last meeting had not gone well so many years earlier. For the longest of times she thought she had imagined it. Yet here was her best friend right in front of her as real as the sun that shone down on them.
There were obvious tears welling up in her eyes as she brought her hand up and nearly bit into her finger in nervousness as despite speaking she felt her breath catch in her throat. Taking in another breath she forced herself to speak once more. ”It has been.. Far too long Celes.”
[attr=class,bulk] Celes found her rhythm. It was a familiar rhythm, soothing as she began to sweat through her undershirt and her muscles began to ache with refreshing exhaustion. Sword training wasn’t exactly enjoyable to her, but it was as natural as anything else the empire had drilled into her, year after countless year until she was their perfect soldier, a magitech knight and the youngest general the Geystahlian empire had ever known.
That was until they’d thrown her away like trash the moment she’d tried to put a stop to Kefka’s murderous schemes. Then she was sentenced to execution. She’d always wondered if the emperor himself had signed the order or if Kefka had pulled some kind of strings to have it done before news reached the emperor’s ears. It all would have come to the same end, of course, but the thought did arise every now and then when her mind was clear and such speculations were released from their usual prison.
After some time, Celes reached that level. Her body acted on instinct. Her mind was free to roam. Celes had hoped that such a state would give her some clarity on matters relating to Terra. She’d hoped that she would come up with some plan or another, some way to reach her, or at the very least some way to start a conversation. It didn’t though. Instead, she was left to brood, her strikes becoming more aggressive the deeper she trudged through old memories and vague suspicions until it reached the guilt at the bottom of it all.
Kefka wouldn’t have gone mad if it wasn’t for you, it whispered like a demon in her ear. Everything is all your fault.
”It has been far too long, Celes.”
Somehow, impossibly, the voice took her off guard. She stopped, blinking as she slowly comprehended the familiar, bird-like voice that came behind her. She bit her tongue. This was not how she’d imagined it would go what with the sweat spots under her arms and trailing down her back with her bangs plastered to her forehead. Still, she’d come for a reason and that reason was here. So she sheathed her sword, took a breath, and turned around to face her. In all her years of combat, she’d faced far more terrifying than this.
Hadn’t she?
She wasn’t sure as she took in the woman in front of her. Terra was elegant as always in her red silk dress trimmed in gold and embroidered with intricate patterns. She was light and almost ethereal, feminine in a way that Celes could only dream of. Her hand was her lips, her deep violet eyes welling with unshed tears. Celes nearly took a step back at the sight of her, looking like that. On the verge of tears. Meeting with Terra was one thing. Meeting with a crying Terra was another.
What was she supposed to say to that?
”Terra, I…” Celes hesitated. ”I…I’m sorry.”
Those were the first words out of her mouth. She wasn’t thinking. The sight of the other woman’s tears, nearly ready to fall brought something out in her, a surge of emotion that took over her mouth before she could stop it.
”I shouldn’t have left you. I was in a bad place back then, still thinking that this must have been one of Kefka’s tricks. I didn’t know…Oh, and then I never even thought to look for you! You must think I don’t care at all, but it’s all been so confusing, I could just…”
Celes took a deep breath. She wasn’t allowed to feel such things. Not so strongly and not in public. She was a soldier, a general with a heart as cold as ice.
Except for with Locke. Or her grandpa Cid. Or…
She shook her head. ”I could just…scream.” Her lips twitched at the thought of it. There was Celes and there was Terra and there was a full yard of recruits that she’d put years of effort whipping into shape. What would they think if she just started shrieking out her nerves and anxiety and confusion? It’d be quite a deal harder to convince them to respect her afterwards, that was for sure.
Celes stepped forward, closing the distance between them until she could reach out and touch her which she did, placing an uncertain hand on Terra’s shoulder. ”I’m sorry,” she said more sincerely this time, trying her best to meet the other woman’s eye. ”And…I’m glad you’re here. Truly.”
Post by Terra Branford on May 8, 2023 19:59:01 GMT -6
As she stood there Terra could not quell the butterflies that welled up within her stomach. It was there and it was causing her to feel uncomfortable as much as she had ever felt in her life. For her it felt like the days not knowing if any of them survived and as the skies darkened and the Light kept crossing the world. All the nervous energy was released though as Terra heard Celes speak toward her. Hearing her say the words that she was sorry made Terra’s breath catch in her throat. “There is nothing for you to feel sorry for Celes… There has never been a reason for you to say that to me.”
Terra’s words came out barely audibly above a whisper but she knew that Celes would hear it. Even with that she heard that as she listened to Celes. Hearing that she believed that their first meeting so long ago had just been another of Kefka's tricks. To which she could understand as initially she thought the brief peace after his death was just another game for him. A game that she knew that he would have loved to participate in. As Terra had been in a similar situation upon her first trip to Zephon. Initially the planet’s magical reserves had overwhelmed her and forced her in and out of her Esperkin form. Alongside that she was able to wield all the powers of the Espers at her peak instead of the equilibrium that she was within in the here and now.
Terra blinked away a few tears that have welled up before they had the chance to roll on her cheeks as she could not help but smile toward her. Hearing Celes say that she could just scream made Terra smile toward her with her usual soft smile. “The scream Celes. Scream it all out and do not bottle it all up. We are not machines no matter what the Emperor tried to do to us. We are women that have emotions… all of them. The tiring, disgusting, overwhelming, and frustrating emotions of being alive…”
Speaking up she let all of the words that she had held back just out into the open. She had learned so much over her small time here in Zephon. She had learned that it was unusual for someone to not experience emotions and to let them out. So she had just started acting like a normal person, well as normal of a person that she could be with the fact she could transform into a pink fur covered beast. Yet even with her words spoken she would suddenly feel Celes’s hand upon her shoulder. It had taken her back a little but still she was not unwelcoming of the contact.. With Celes once more apologizing she could not help but shake her green hair covered head.
That only lasted but for a moment before Terra sprung forward and just wrapped her arms around Celes. Burying her head into Celes’s chest she let out the tears that she had been holding back. Through the tears of the genuine emotion and reunion Terra spoke up. “There.. Is nothing… to be sorry for Celes. We are friends… maybe even family after everything…. That we have been through together. I would be stupid to not be here. Be here right here and now. I am happy that you have found your place here Celes.”
“I had to leave you though… .As I should be the one to say I was sorry. The magic of Zephon overwhelmed me. I kept flickering into my Esper self even after it was lost after we killed Kefka… And my fire magic became unstable. I had to learn to control myself.” Terra had to explain to her close friend as to exactly where she had been and why it was that she could not find her. Terra was so far away from any settlements but she was not going to tell her that. Instead she let it linger with a final. “I am happy to be here as well Celes.”
[attr=class,bulk] At first, Terra responded softly, her whisper lost to the sounds of clashing wooden swords and stomping boots. Terra was elegant as a bird in flight and as subdued as a frightened mouse, at least on her bad days. There were days, Celes remembered, when Terra had laughed among the rest of them, but those days were fleeting compared to the weeks of her small smiles and quiet words. It wasn’t until Celes had closed the distance between them that she saw a change to that smile. Thankfully, Terra had managed to fight back her tears. Maybe it felt better seeing the usually confident Celes brought to stuttering and small jokes between them.
But Terra didn’t seem to take it as a joke. She advised her to scream if she really wanted to, and Celes laughed. It was a hard, disbelieving laugh with a hint of exhaustion behind it. Was Terra really lecturing her about the human experience? It seemed so. That time away flying about the wilderness in her esper form must have taught her something since they’d last met.
”I know that,” Celes said. ”Of course I’m not a machine, but…” She waved a hand towards the rest of the yard. Half of the men had a sense for drama and had stopped their drills to watch. The others kept about their work as dutifully as she’d taught them, but would certainly stop if she started screaming like a madwoman. ”Well, this isn’t the place, is it?”
Maybe it would be to Terra. Maybe emotions meant more to her than status. Terra hadn’t always been allowed them, after all, and Celes supposed that she hadn’t always been allowed them either though in a different and less literal way. It was only natural that Terra treasure the truth of her heart. Celes had other priorities.
She knew she shouldn’t have placed a hand on Terra’s shoulder. That initiating touch that felt so unnatural for her seemed to be taken as invitation, and in moments Terra had thrown herself at her and Celes was gripped in a tight embrace, the other woman’s arms around her neck and her face buried deep in her chest as she finally let loose the sobs she’d been holding back. Celes was stunned into silence.
”Ah…” No words would come as Celes stood there, stiff and wild-eyed and so very unsure what to do about it. She felt the other woman’s tears slide hot against her chest, and she wondered briefly if the layer of sweat on her skin bothered Terra at all. It didn’t seem to. Slowly, stiffly, Celes put a hand on Terra’s back and patted her. Was that the least bit comforting? She had no idea.
But she had to do something. Terra still hadn’t let go of her.
”That’s…good.” Did Terra know just how little experience Celes had with crying women? If not, she likely did now. ”I wouldn’t exactly call this my place, but it’s done some good, I think.”
There was that word that kept coming back. Good. Couldn’t she think of anything better?
”Would you like to talk…somewhere a little more private?” Celes glanced over at the mercenaries. Oh yes. There would be gossip about this in the coming weeks. ”My room here perhaps?”
Post by Terra Branford on Jun 28, 2023 19:43:56 GMT -6
Terra had been content to air everything in front of anyone who would see it, but at the same time she could see what Celes meant as she waved her hand. It seemed that many of the men had stopped their training and were now staring at the two of them. If Terra could shoot daggers from her eyes she would of done that upon many of the men that she could see. They were destroying a nearly perfect moment between them. She could not help herself and did not mind the attention that Celes had given her with the few reassuring pats upon her back. It felt good to have a friend back here in front of her instead of just strangers who seemed to slide in and out of her life with regularity.
Pulling back from the hug she could not help but feel her face redden out of embarrassment. She had not intended this to be such a public of a private event and yet now she felt all of the embarrassment fill her and she could not help but flush in that emotion. Her expression was glued to her face as she tried to hide her face from view as Celes mentioned how about them moving this to her room. Terra would nod hurriedly as her green hair fell just right to shield her face from ost of the views taht were staring at the two women. ”That would be for the best Celes… I do not want to jeopardize what you have built here by my actions. So please lead on.”
Terra waited for Celes to guide her and she would follow close by. Striding behind her by a few feet she made sure to follow her to the room that she had within the barracks. Once Celes would open the door she would move inside and quickly out of line of sight from the door. Once Celes followed her in and she had closed the door Terra could not help but slump her shoulders and wipe her face clean with a familiar handkerchief to the two women. A spare of Locke’s that Terra always had carried in her pack but never truly used before coming to Zephon.
“I am sorry Celes if I made things bad for you. I can only imagine what rumors are going to come from me just doing that.” Terra could not help her mind from wildly speculating what the men would come up with and she felt her face flush a bright crimson red. ”Oh dear they will assume that… Oh dear they are going to think that I am some…” This time however Terra would not finish her thoughts as she just covered her mouth with the handkerchief and let out an obviously quiet scream into it. As Celes could probably easily tell what it was that had run into Terra’s mind. All because of that lecherous king that they both called a friend Terra’s mind raced directly downhill and would need a few moments to be sane and calm once more.
[attr=class,bulk] Terra seemed flustered by her suggestion – so flustered in fact that she finally let go of her vice grip on Celes’ neck. That was something, at least, and Celes cleared her throat as she rubbed awkwardly at the wet spot Terra’s tears had made on her chest. Celes felt like a mess, standing there under the hot sun slick with sweat and tears – another woman’s tears at that. Her undershirt was spotted with them.
Terra’s head was lowered now in shame. Celes felt a twinge of guilt at that. She’d been so happy only a moment earlier, had she been too harsh? But Celes also wanted desperately out of view of her men and so she kept her questions and apologies to herself as she nodded and started for the door back inside.
Privacy. That was what they needed. Celes had no idea what they’d talk about once they had it, but that element of surprise was why they needed it so badly. Celes couldn’t discount that she’d be the one shedding tears next, and that wouldn’t do in front of a crowd.
She marched up the narrow staircase, her feet cramping with the strain of her boots after the long journey across country. The upstairs was a tad hotter, but that was what open windows were for. A cool breeze rustled through the palm leaves and struck her as she opened her bedroom door. It felt almost delightful enough to distract her from her current predicament.
That predicament being, well, Terra walking dejectedly behind her, shoulders slumped, eyes downcast. For a woman who had once been stripped of her emotions, she certainly had a lot of them now. Terra pulled the door closed behind them and then pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from her eyes. Celes couldn’t help but start in surprise at the sight of it. Was that…Locke’s?
Locke. Her heart beat a little faster, a little hotter. Had Terra been given that piece of cloth from him before all of this mess began or…?
Or was Locke somewhere here? Somewhere Celes hadn’t managed to find yet? Was he out there even now, traipsing about, eyes sharp for someone else’s treasure to steal?
Celes didn’t have time to ask before Terra was apologizing.
”You don’t have to-” Celes sputtered in response, but it didn’t seem like they were talking about the same thing anymore. At least not judging from Terra’s blush. ”What would they assume?”
Well, that Celes was weak for one. Just a weak-willed woman with silly emotions. But that could hardly be what Terra was thinking. And then something about her blush and the mention of rumors brought it all together, and Celes blinked in surprise.
”Oh no! No, no. I doubt they’d think that.” Did Terra assume that they’d assume that the two of them were lost lovers? That seemed like quite the step. Had Celes somehow set this up in the other woman’s head?
Now it was Celes’ turn to blush. ”It’s fine, Terra. Really. They’re all too busy whispering that I’m some love-struck fool over Caius. Can you imagine that?”
How on all the worlds had she managed to get herself into this mess?
”I wish I’d been here when you first came,” Celes said, hoping that maybe she could somehow get things back on track. ”I usually am. I was just off in Provo helping a friend. Have you met Yuna? She’s…” With her thoughts all scrambled and flustered, she couldn’t think of the right word. Nice? Quiet? Too willing to help? ”Well, I think you’d get along.”
Celes walked over to her bed, perched on the side of it, and used the opportunity with her back to Terra to bite her lip. Oh, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go at all! She didn’t know how it was supposed to go exactly, but this certainly wasn’t it. Celes swallowed back as much of her rising frustration as possible and began taking off her boots as though nothing were wrong at all and she was back from any other trip.
”I’m sorry if the room isn’t much,” she said because silence was the enemy and she couldn’t keep from filling it. ”I only just got back, and I don’t live here exactly. At least not most days. Usually it’s just where I take a nap if I work too many hours into the night.”
Such useless talk. What did it matter if the room was plain? Only a bed, a dresser, and an end table to fill it? It didn’t matter at all yet Celes felt the need to comment. Perhaps her nerves really had turned her silly.
Celes set her discarded boots aside and watched them for a moment, frowning as quieter thoughts crept their way into her head.
”Terra…Where have you been?” She kept her eyes on the boots, on the floor, back turned. ”And why are you here? Doing jobs for Caius? That doesn’t sound like you at all.” She remembered Terra’s resistance whenever there was a fight. She hated being used as a weapon even of her own volition, and that was hardly to mention the sheer amount of effort it had taken to convince Terra to come along after the world had gone to hell.
”Do you need help?” Celes finally turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowed. ”If you need the gil, I can help you with that. There are easier ways to earn it than fighting. You don’t have to…” She waved a hand towards the sword sheathed at Terra’s hip, almost lost among the sea of decorative scarves she’d tied there.
Post by Terra Branford on Jul 27, 2023 20:39:17 GMT -6
All of Terra’s embarrassment and everything that had been racing around in her mind finally calmed down as Celes began to speak. Showing off the calm and mostly collected friend Terra needed in the here and now. Yet s he could not stifle the light chuckle as she heard Celes speak about how the men assumed that her and Caius were a couple. “That is the truth Celes. Before I told anyone that I knew you they assumed I was moving in on him and trying to take him from you… It nearly made me turn the color of a tomato. As for the two of you… no I cannot see it. He is not Locke….”
Terra could not help herself as she blurted out the rumors she had heard and how she somehow slipped into them as something of a homewrecker. Obviously her reaction to all of that had been natural and she could not have helped herself in that moment. Thankfully she had known when to shut up and had not said anything to make her predicament any worse. Yet she did realize what she said and quickly brought a hand up to cover her mouth as she was even shocked at herself. It was not something she would have said so openly but behind closed doors she did not have any sort of filter in place. A bad habit she picked up after Kefkka’s defeat.
“Where was I… I was in the middle of the Headstone Forest I believe they called it. There was a small set of wagons that I managed to cobble together into a home. My magic would not allow me to do much nor go to any of the local villages too often.” She spoke softly as she moved to take a seat on one of the only chairs in the room. Looking around it as Celes seemed to apologize to her for it and she just raised her hand and waved it off. As she diid not care how it looked as they both were simple people with simple needs.
“As for why I am m doing here… I came to find you Celes. I heard from a travelling merchant you were here and here I am. As for doing jobs for Caius..” She rubbed the side of her head out of a small bit of embarrassment. Though the embarrassment dropped as Celes asked her if she needed gil and that they did not need to be machines of war. It brought Terra back to the times were they had shared that moment. A smile crossed the green haired woman’s face.
“We are both not being forced to do war for someone morally bankrupt that he would experiment on and kidnap children. We do these things because we help people. Well it is why I wield my magic now. I do not want to see the poor face any sort of pain. As for working with Caius. Honestly it was a cover to just be here to be at your side again. Last time I f elt like I was doing any sort of good was when I w as working with you and the others.” Terra rambled on for a bit before smiling toward Celes.
“Before you a nd Caius got here and did your good I helped the city as well… I do not know if they remember it too well but my cloak in my room. Was handed to me by some minister or something for defending the town from a beast who wielded magic that even Kefka would have been hard pressed to match. Yet I did somehow.” A moment of pride for Terra and it had given her more then enough money to survive till now. Hence why she did not respond to Celes directly about gil as she still had plenty on her.
[attr=class,bulk] The Headstone Forest. Well, that would explain why no one had found her. Even if some poor, lost traveler had encountered Terra in her esper form, they would have assumed she was just another ghost or monster haunting the place. Still, for three years, that sounded like an absolutely miserable experience…
”To find…me?” Celes repeated as Terra went on. ”Oh. Well, thank you. I’m glad you did. Really.” She didn’t know how sincere she sounded. She was sincere, obviously, but it sounded much less so now than when she’d approached her friend on the verge of tears. Now she didn’t quite know what to say. Or what to do for that matter.
Terra told her that she’d made her own choice to fight which was all well and good, she supposed. Celes had done the same and certainly couldn’t disagree with Terra’s logic when it was her own. Still, Celes couldn’t help but frown as Terra spoke.
While fighting to help people might have come naturally to Celes, it simply wasn’t Terra. Not if the woman didn’t have to, that was. Not as a natural instinct.
”You mean Chaos?” she asked as Terra finished her tale. ”I…well, yes, of course I remember. I was here too. Not fighting Chaos, obviously, but healing the injured, saving those I could, that sort of thing. I nearly died when I ran inside a burning building to help a trapped family. It…isn’t something I like to remember.”
That had been shortly after Terra and Celes had parted ways. Long ago when Celes still couldn’t help but look over her shoulder for an ambush or glance distrustfully at too clear of skies. The smell of the fire had reminded her of Kefka’s Light of Judgment. That memory of a memory was almost too much for Celes to bear and so she quickly changed the subject.
”Terra, I agree with fighting to help people. That’s what I’ve been doing here all along, after all, but this isn’t…I mean, mercenary work? It isn’t you, is it?” Anyone could change in three years. Maybe Terra had decided differently than before, she knew Terra. She’d lived with Terra. She’d argued with Terra over this exact sort of thing! Getting her to use her power to fight against Kefka had been like pulling teeth out of a feral yeti.
Terra was gentle. Terra was kind. Terra was delicate if not physically then certainly emotionally. She’d never wanted anything that had been thrust upon her even when it was in her best interest. Terra was everything that Celes wasn’t, and the opposite proved just as true.
Terra was no soldier. She had more to offer the world than just her sword.
”If this is really what you want then of course we’ll have you. I’d trust you with anything that comes our way. But…” She hesitated. ”Would it really make you happy?”
It didn’t even make Celes happy, but then again, Celes didn’t think that anything ever could.
”I know people here. I could pull some strings. There are plenty of children in need and institutions that would pay you for your time. There are healers too who could use your white magic. In fact, we even have a branch in Provo run by Yuna. I already told you about Yuna. She’s a brilliant white mage, and she runs a clinic rather than a band of sellswords.”
There were so many things that awaited Terra in the world, opportunities that had always been denied her. Even Celes had only ever asked for her help in a fight. That time was over.
”Or…If you really want to stay here, we could use a dedicated healer. I’m about as close to one as we have, and you’ve always been better at it than me. And it would be helpful to have someone specifically at the ready for rescue operations. Usually when some disaster or another strikes, that job falls to me because of my magic, but if you were here then we could either work together or you’d give me the opportunity to run headlong into danger to help stop whatever it is causing it all.”
Brainstorming. Idle ideas. They were all she had at the moment.
”It’s your choice to make. I won’t ask you to do anything that doesn’t feel right.”
Post by Terra Branford on Aug 25, 2023 10:13:20 GMT -6
“Yes… I wanted to see if there was anyone else from our world here and you were the first one that I knew that was here Celes. So you were first…” Terra had to chime up and let out something as she affirmed something that Terra had said. She really was happy that Celes was here at this moment. Though knowing that she was grateful that Terra came to find her. It made her so much happier in all of the situations in front of her.
Though as Celes chimed up that she had been here when Chaos attacked it made her feel once more that they had that kinship that they have had in their travels against Kefka. Yet hearing what she had gone through made her smile and nod. It was certainly something that she could picture Celes doing. So it made perfect sense to her that it was the actions she was doing while others fought the large beast. Yet as she said that she did not like to remember it Terra moved and placed her hand onto her friend's shoulder once more. A simple gesture but one that she knew that Celes would appreciate in the moment.
As she was confronted by her wanting to work mercenary work she could not help herself but take a few steps back from Celes and nod. “It was not my first choice for work… I would much rather teach magic to people or to heal others, but I chose to do this work as a means to try and prevent issues with others. To try and alleviate the suffering as best that I can…”
She hoped that her words would help clarify any sort of misunderstanding that Celes would have with her and her actions in the here and now. Yet as she finished speaking she looked out of the window and continued after a brief pause in her words. “Celes these people have not had to live through what we have and… I do not want them to ever experience anything like that. To watch the world be ripped apart in front of their eyes. I realized that while on my own. So if I had to, I would stand up to shield others from our fate…”
There was a conviction in her voice as she could not help herself but clench her fist in front of her. It was an absentminded thing that she did but she was certainly older than the woman who had been there and meek to everything that came in front of her. Though as Celes spoke up and slowly got to the point of offering her a job here in the headquarters she smiled and turned to look back at Celes. Barely letting her finish before she spoke once more.
“I accept the position you have offered Celes. There is no need to explain anything else to me. To help you and to help others no matter what. That is what we do is it not?” There was no hesitation in her words nor her response. As for Terra there was nothing more that she wanted them to be reunited with her friend and to push forward in a world untouched by the Lights of Judgement.
