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year 5, quarter 3
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You've got a lot of brass, or mayhap you're just lacking in brains!
“I’m sorry. That was a lot of sides to see of each other for a first date, wasn't it?”
Yuna looked genuinely bashful as she said it, and Faris laughed. It was a cute kind of look -- all flustered and self-conscious. Yuna had a good soul, he could tell. She was the kind of girl he wouldn’t mind spending more time with. Though she was a tad young for his particular tastes.
”That’s the point of it all, isn’t it?” He gave a slanted grin. ”Now I don’t know much about these ’dates,’ but I’d think it best to get it all out in the open. No masks. No lies. It’s best to really know a person if you’re out for a match. I’ve never cared much for playing at who I am.”
He shook his head. He knew it wasn’t the usual and perhaps could be seen as bold, but that was just the kind of man he was. Maybe that was why he liked meeting new friends over a pint of ale. It was hard to wear a mask when you were swimming with liquor.
”My work?” Faris hesitated. Now there was an awkward idea. Part of him wanted to brush by it with a vague wave of his hand. ’A sailor, a hired sword, nothing special.’ But hadn’t he just gone on about dropping lies?
”I’ll take a job if I like it well enough,” he said. ”The pay’s spotty, but I can’t help but raise a spear if someone’s in need of it. That’s how I met Caius the second time around. We were out hunting a dragon the size of a mountain. I liked that wind drake of his. Smart creatures, those. They can sense a strong heart, you know.”
He paused. Was he stalling for time? That didn’t feel much like his way.
”There’s another thing you should know, I think.” He reached for his shot of whiskey, paused at the empty ice, and then sighed. ”I’m a pirate, lass. I sail about stealing and going on my way.” He met her eye with a challenge. ”Now I don’t go taking from those who’ve got nothing, mind, and I don’t make a habit of hurting anyone if I can help it. I’d rather take a blade myself than let it run through a man who doesn’t deserve it, but I was raised by pirates and I’ll keep at it as long as I’ve got my wits. A hired sword makes a sour sum of gil. And I’ve got two mouths to feed.”
Faris huffed, leaning back and crossing his arms. ”They’re from my world, see. One’s a brave lass of fourteen. She’d take on the world if she could, but she’s still too young to strike out on her own. And the other…” He gave a sigh that sounded more like a groan. ”He’s got more air between his ears than a sail will take in a day. We were close as brothers, and now he doesn’t remember a thing. Amnesia, I think you call it.”
He shook his head. ”I’ve got a weight on my shoulders, and I can’t carry it above the table. So that’s my tale. You can take it or throw it away.”
Faris explained with a low grin that he didn’t mind if everything was coming out in the open pretty fast on this date, and Yuna felt her cheeks grow a little hotter as she glanced down at the empty shot glass in front of her. Dregs of brown liquid lurked in the corners at the bottom.
“I guess you’re right. If you’re only putting your best foot forward, then you won’t learn much about someone.” You could tell a lot about someone by what made them passionate and by what they’d lose their temper over, and somehow she thought that she and Faris had already shown each other both of those. Maybe it was a good sign that they were both even still sitting here then.
Faris seemed a little hesitant to talk about what he’d been up to on Zephon, which surprised Yuna a little. Most sailors that she knew were relatively happy to talk about the places that they’d been to, as long as you weren’t bothering them while they were working. Eventually, he said that he dabbled a bit as a hired sword, and Yuna laughed when he mentioned Vordun.
“He’s getting huge lately, but he’s still very loyal to Caius. I like Vordun a lot.” She also wasn’t able to resist a smile when he described the mission that he’d done with Caius. “As big as a mountain? Really? I don’t think he ever mentioned that one. I’m glad you both made it out of there.”
Faris’ hesitation came back, and Yuna frowned slightly as he finally gave a full disclosure of what he did for a living. Her frown deepened as he carried on while seeming the opposite of apologetic about it--he explained that he had two other people to take care of and that he needed the money before leaning back and crossing his arms. Yuna had been quiet throughout--she only spoke once he looked like he was finished saying his piece.
“I’ve never heard the word pirate before, to be honest, but I think I take your meaning.” She was silent for a moment, weighing the best thing to say. She didn’t expect that he would respond well to a lecture. Most people didn’t, but especially not from a stranger. Maybe pointing out the dangers would be best? Particularly with two people so reliant on Faris and his income. They would be in a tough spot if anything happened to Faris.
“But why steal from ships? Why not on land?” A moment after the words left her lips, Yuna could have groaned from the phrasing. That double drink really had made her less eloquent than usual. “I just meant-...The oceans are dangerous,” she sputtered in an attempt to rephrase and not make it sound like she condoned thievery. “There must be an easier way to earn money. I’m sure the two people you mentioned wouldn’t want you hurt or arrested…”
Maybe that was bordering on lecturing him. Yuna sighed and leaned back in the booth before looking up at Faris again over the candlelight. “I can’t say I approve, but I don’t live your circumstances. And I doubt anything I have to say would make much of a difference anyway if your mind’s made up.” She smiled very faintly as she folded her hands in front of her. “I hope you don’t always have to feel like it’s your only option. That’s all.”
You've got a lot of brass, or mayhap you're just lacking in brains!
Yuna was silent in thought. It was a better reaction than Faris had expected from such a soft-hearted girl. It wasn’t instant chiding, anyway, and it told him there was more behind her eyes than just justice. She was one to consider the circumstances before she made a judgement. He could respect that -- no matter what came next -- but that didn’t mean he liked the quiet between them. It made him squirm.
Still, he waited, and his patience paid off. But why steal from ships?” she asked. ”Why not on land?” Faris recoiled and then stared at her, wondering if she was joking. When she showed nothing more embarrassment, he laughed. Hard.
”Now there’s a thought!” He said and then grinned. ”Aye, it’s dangerous lass, but there’s nothing holding you back but the waves. You can sail for ages without a soul in sight, and no one’s going to tell you otherwise. It’s my home, I’d say. I’d not turn my back on it.”
From her sputtering, it seemed she hadn’t said exactly what she’d meant, but her priorities were already set in order. His safety first. His morals second. He felt a kind of fondness swell within him. Whatever she said next, she could take it. She’d proven herself worthy of that.
And what she did say didn’t offend him much either. There must be a safer way. No mention of his moral character. No ’you’re a better person than that, I know it.’ That’s what he’d hated the most. The pretension. Caius had overflowed with it.
”It’s not my only option,” Faris said and then paused, scratching at the side of his head. ”Er. I mean it’s the only one now. With who I’m paired with at any rate. But back home…” Faris stopped. He wasn’t making much sense, was he?
”I was raised by pirates,” he said. ”Right on the deck of a ship. They plucked me from the water floating on a stick of wood. I’d’ve drowned if they hadn’t hauled me onboard.” He shook his head. ”The sea’s my home,” he said again. ”The freedom, the thrills. My crew’s my family. We take what we want, but we live by a code of our own. The laws aren’t made for us.”
Faris looked her in the eye. ”Now you’re free to judge. I don’t want you holding back, lass, but that’s the way of it. Your friend tried to tell me I was a better person than that. I’m not. I’d throw myself in the fire if it meant saving a life, and I’ve gone to the edge of the world to save it, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got a noble heart. I’m not like you and I’m not like him, and that’s not something you have to accept.”
He smiled at her. ”But I wish I could take you out to sea,” he said. ”On my sea, mind, not yours. I could show you the beauty of it. The bitter wind, the endless sky, the sunset beaming off the water.” He laughed to himself. ”And then we’d have a night of drinking and stories! You’d like my crew, I think. And anyone who messes with a friend of mine would spend a night in the brig.”
Yuna wanted to slide down under the table when Faris laughed at her questions about his safety. He seemed to brush most of them off. He didn’t deny that it could be dangerous necessarily, but he seemed to find that the freedom and exhilaration made the risks well worth it.
“But-” Yuna started, and then she bit her lip to stop herself. There had been no Sin on his world, as impossible a concept as that was for her to wrap her mind around. Faris might be risking capture and execution for thievery every time he set sail, but he wasn’t risking an encounter that few had ever escaped from. She needed to separate her fear of what lurked in Spira’s depths to what he was telling her now. They weren’t related.
Yuna gave Faris a slightly startled look when he explained that he had been raised by pirates after they’d saved him from drowning. “...I’m sorry to hear that. Do you remember it?” She was guessing that he must have been young if he considered the pirates to be his family rather than his birth parents. She wondered if Faris remembered where he had come from, but she ducked her head before the alcohol could loosen her tongue enough to make her ask. That would have been prying to a nearly rude degree. Either his parents had died in the accident that had left Faris drifting, or they had abandoned him at sea. Neither were topics that she wanted to make him dwell on before he was ready to.
Faris seemed to grow serious for a moment, looking her dead in the eye as he reinforced that pirating was his way of life. He finally gave her some insight as to why he disliked Caius--evidently he had tried to tell Faris that he was a better person than that. Yuna could understand why Caius would say that. Sitting here, she could tell that the boy had a good heart. Why else would he be so determined that she be under no illusions about who he was? He was an honest thief. The contradiction made her want to giggle.
“I’m not like you and I’m not like him, and that’s not something you have to accept.” The bubble of laughter died in Yuna, and she glanced to the side with a frown.
“...No. You’re right. That’s probably not something I could ever understand very well.” Yuna could comprehend stealing from necessity, but Faris clearly just enjoyed that way of life. A friendship between them likely wouldn’t work out, since Yuna wasn’t sure if she could overlook what he was doing.
And yet...Yuna couldn’t help but stare at him as he described the sea that he’d like to take her on. He painted a beautiful picture of the water in a way that she’d never seen before. The beaches around Besaid were breath-taking of course, but there had always been that tinge of dread when she’d looked at them. As a summoner, she’d always known that Sin would be the last thing that she’d see before she died.
“Faris…” Yuna knew that her cheeks were red from his descriptions. It sounded almost like a date. True, this was technically a date as well, but what he’d described sounded far more personal. Probably dangerous too among pirates, but she did have to laugh at his reassurance that he’d throw anyone in the brig who bothered her. “Oh no! I couldn’t ask you to-”
Their second drinks arrived then, though the shot glasses were smaller this time since they only contained a single. Yuna glanced down at it uncertainly before raising the whiskey with a small smile and swallowing it down. It burned less than it had the first time.
Once she had caught her breath back, Yuna chanced a glance back up at Faris, already knowing what she was going to say. This was a bad idea. A terrible one, even. But getting attached to Tidus had been a terrible idea too, and Yuna would never regret jumping in head-first after him.
“Do you have a ship here too?” She was sure that the meaning was clear in her eyes.
You've got a lot of brass, or mayhap you're just lacking in brains!
“...I’m sorry to hear that. Do you remember it?”
Yuna had a sad look about her. Not surprising, he supposed, though Faris had grown quite tired of that look whenever he told his tale. He shrugged. ”My first memory. Clinging to that wood, being tossed about in the storm. I went under once or twice. I’d’ve died if there hadn’t been such a fire in me.”
A fire and a grand heaping of luck. It was a miracle he’d survived at all. Maybe that was why the pirates had clung to him with such a steadfast resolve.
”But there’s not a thing to pity. My crew’s my family, and I’ve grown into a man to be proud of.” Faris paused. Was his father proud of him? They’d only met once on his dying breath. He doubted the man had known enough of him for that, and the thought brought a twinge of pain to his heart. Still, it didn’t matter much in the end. Faris carried his own pride, and there was nothing more important than that.
Yuna didn’t like his piracy. That was clear enough in her eyes, and Faris felt a sudden unease watching her. He’d expected it of course, but it still didn’t settle right. Soon enough, her good heart would reject him. He’d known it would only be a matter of time.
She was a ‘lady lady,’ and ladies didn’t associate with pirates.
”...No. You’re right. That’s probably not something I could ever understand very well.” That was all she said. It wasn’t a rejection out right, but it left some words buried under the sands. People didn’t tend to associate much with what they didn’t understand.
Their whiskey landed at the right time. They both stopped their chatter to take a heavy swallow, and Faris relished the burn on his tongue. It distracted him from what he feared most. In that moment at least.
There was silence between them, and Yuna’s eyes flickered back to him. Was she thinking of the best way to turn him down? She was a tactful woman and a kind one. Surely, she’d try for the softest she could manage, but then she spoke. What she said, Faris couldn’t have possibly imagined.
”Do you have a ship here too?”
He blinked once. Twice. A ship here? Did she really mean…?
He broke out into a wide grin, shooting up in his excitement. ”You’d come along?” He felt the liquor touch at his heart -- warm and inviting. He hadn’t felt this bright in some time. ”I’ve not a ship, no, but I can still sail. There’s a boat I’ve taken too -- crewed by two. I can manage on my own unless you’d like a lesson.”
He laughed. That was exactly what he needed most. A day away from the shore, away from Bartz and Krile and anything else holding him down. The company of a beautiful woman was as much a bonus as he’d ever seen.
”Would you come now or would you wait until the morning?”
Faris shared a few more details of the day that he was picked up by pirates, and Yuna frowned slightly at the description of a small boy clinging desperately to a piece of driftwood in the ocean. It really was a miracle that he'd survived, though a small smile did tug at her lips when Faris said that it was nothing to pity. He was very confident in who he was, and Yuna did have to respect that even if her opinion of stealing was low.
“You’re incredibly honest. I do have to give you that,” Yuna commented with a faint smile. He could have just let her continue to think that he was a normal sailor after all, so she was grateful that he had shared the entire truth about who he was. Yuna wasn’t sure that even she had been that forth-coming, but it was nice to be able to take his profession into consideration when thinking about what she wanted to do next. Logically, the best thing to do would have been to thank him for the fun time and depart for home, but despite his illegal activities, she liked Faris. She wanted to see more of him, and leaving in disapproval wouldn’t exactly turn him away from piracy anyway. Yuna needed to know more about him to figure out what would actually be effective.
Or, at least, that was why she rationalized to herself that she was encouraging him. Yuna had a feeling the actual reason had a lot more to do with the beautiful way that he’d painted sailing the sea together in her mind. Or the way that the candlelight flickered across his lavender hair.
Faris seemed both thrilled and amused that she’d agreed, grinning as he explained that he had a sailboat that needed two people to run it.
“The perfect amount of people then.” Such a small vessel was almost unheard of on Spira, since you needed a large crew to defend against Sin. She was a little excited to see how a small boat like that operated, even if being alone on a date was far more intimidating than being in a group like this.
Faris posed the question of when she wanted to go, and Yuna paused, glancing at the empty shot glasses in front of her. Truthfully, she was doing much better than she had been with either Ardyn or Bartz, but the alcohol in her system still coaxed her forward. Would she be bold enough to agree in the morning? When the whiskey was gone and the memory of Faris’ excited eyes had faded? She hoped that she’d still have the courage, but the possibility that the reality of running off with a pirate would be too overwhelming prompted her next words.
“Well you did promise me a sunset…” That would be hard to see in the morning, wouldn’t it?
You've got a lot of brass, or mayhap you're just lacking in brains!
”The perfect amount of people then,” Yuna said, smiling. Did that mean she agreed? Faris felt a fire in his heart, something only partly fueled by liquor. He didn’t know why he was so excited, really. He’d taken the boat to see before, and he’d do it again, but there was something special about this time that caught his attention. He’d never really shown someone the beauty of the sea before. He couldn’t wait to share.
”Aye. If you’re willing to do the work.” Even if she wasn’t, he’d manage. Sharing the sea was like sharing the world. He’d get a smile out of her yet.
The only question was when. And the answer was now.
”You’d come then? Before sunset?” He leaned forward, grinning. He couldn’t help himself. He was like a child promised a ride on a chocobo. ”We’ll not have long to waste then! We’ve got to set sail before the hour’s right.”
He looked to the bar and then to their empty shot glasses. He wouldn’t need another round if he wanted to keep the sails straight. He supposed that was the end of it then. No matter how he longed for more.
”I’ll, uh. Pay the gil then.” He reached for his coin purse and fished out what he thought was right. The pouch was light in his hand -- a lot lighter than he’d have liked it to be. He’d have to have to hit another mark soon. He’d have a lot more drinks to pay for yet.
He dropped the coins onto the table, not hearing a word otherwise, before he stood. It was crowded now. So crowded he feared he’d run into more familiar faces before they found the door. ”Let’s take to the streets,” he said. ”It’ll be a while before the harbor, and I think I could use the air anyway.” He cast a dry look to the paper hearts dangling lifelessly from the rafters. ”It’s a sore sight in here.”
With that, he offered her a hand and led her to the entrance. Friends, adventure, and whiskey. He’d have to thank Bartz once they found each other again. This trip hadn’t been such a waste of breath after all.
