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year 5, quarter 3
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Post by Celes Chere on Oct 28, 2020 12:14:30 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@blacksuit
I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THIS BEING LATE
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Celes looked up as Cissnei came back. She handed her a bottle of water true to her word. Celes took it and smiled sheepishly. ”Thanks.” She opened it and drank. In the tropical heat, it was life saving. ”They’re great,” Celes said. ”But I don’t know much about starting.”
It seemed like an odd thing to say from the outside. Did she somehow know what Celes had been thinking? She couldn’t have. It’s not like they really knew each other.
”A team... cheer?” Celes blinked at her. Was Cissnei serious? Well, she certainly seemed to be as she stuck out her hand and looked at her expectantly. ”Er. Okay.” Celes shuffled forward, not entirely sure what to do. What did cheering actually...do? And how was someone supposed to do it? After a moment, Celes mimicked her, sticking her hand out too.
Was she doing it right?
Cissnei looked thoughtful. ”Ah. The cheer part. How about, ’Bump, set, hit, spike. That’s the way we like to fight!’
Celes stared as Cissnei thrust her hand in the hair with a shout. Had she come up with that on the spot? Was this something that people just did?
”Er. Right! That!” Celes put her hand up too. She felt herself blush. ”That sounds fun,” she said. ”Let’s, um. Do that!” Fight, that was. She could fight.
She heard a whistle in the distance and stood at attention as she saw the organizers walking in a loose formation towards the court. They held their clipboards and read them off, listing the teams. There were a lot of them, but less than she’d thought. This probably wouldn’t take that long at least -- particularly not if they completely bombed the first round.
Which was likely. Celes took a long drink of her water.
According to the brackets, they were going second. Celes followed where she was directed and watched as the first teams lined up across from each other. They talked over their strategy, laughing.
”You know. This really is kind of fun.” Celes sat down, settling into the sand with her knees pulled up. ”I don’t know if you’ve guessed, but I’ve never really had…girl time before.” Wasn’t that what she’d called it? ”I grew up in the imperial army. Now I’m here. It’s a little hard to get used to.”
Post by Celes Chere on Oct 28, 2020 11:37:07 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@lala5
Celes is not happy about this
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Rufus had no interest in turning back. Celes could understand that, and she nodded in return. Though he didn’t seem like a mercenary, he’d made it clear that he could handle himself. This would go easier with someone at her back. She wasn’t exactly complaining.
Still, there was something she didn’t like in his eyes. They were cold. Ruthless. Celes watched him carefully, hand instinctively at her sword. She’d promised to leave the man alive, but she’d already heard enough chiding from him about mercy to know that he wouldn’t feel the same. But would he really do something so drastic without asking her permission?
”We need an insurance policy.” He lifted his gun and, before she could so much as make a noise of protest, he fired. The blast was hideous. It rang in her ears as she stared, stunned, at the gory mess that it had left behind. The man was screaming. It was little wonder with the mangled flesh of his leg. It was bleeding -- fast. Celes put her hand to her mouth.
”Oh.” She couldn’t tear her eyes away. She’d seen blood, of course, and she’d spilled more than her share of it. She’d seen bodies torn and gutted and iced over and burned until they were unrecognizable, but this was something else. It was cruel.
”How could you…?”
Rufus knelt beside the man, snatching the man’s bandanna as he went about tying above the wound. A tourniquet. Had he done this before?
”Considering the state of his injuries, this will buy us half an hour to an hour. You can heal him later if it’s worth it.”
He was callous. So calculated and that was what finally snapped her out of her stupor. Celes felt rage boil up inside her as she turned on him, furious. ”If it’s worth it?!” She gestured towards the screaming, sobbing man. ”What could be worth this?” Celes shot him a searing look before she turned towards the man, hands clasped together. ”Cure.”
Her magic welled about the man in a soothing wind. It didn’t heal him -- not fully -- but it was enough to slow the bleeding. She saw the relief cool his face, still wet with tears. Her spell would act as an anesthetic. For a while at least. And while she doubted he could walk on a leg like that, he wasn’t in much danger of bleeding out if they took more than half an hour.
”If you try something like that again…” Celes turned back to him, her anger returned in full force. ”They’re terrible,” she said. ”But we should be better than them. I won’t have torture on my hands.”
Not now. Not again.
With that done, she turned her attention to the wall. It certainly looked like a cliff. She stopped, head tilted as she squinted at it. To tell the truth, she didn’t know much about illusions either, but she did know something about magic. She thought. For all the good it would do.
”I don’t know,” she said then glanced at him. ”But if it’s just an illusion…” Celes walked towards the cliff and touched it. Dry dirt dusted her fingers. Okay, so not there.
She hummed and started walking along the perimeter, hand trailing along the rock. It was uneven and she felt the mud cram itself beneath her nails. After several paces, she stopped as her hand met air.
”Huh.” Celes pushed her hand forward. It was bizarre, watching it sink into solid stone. There was the cliff-face like anything else, and there was her hand -- sunk to the wrist in solid matter. She shuttered. ”It looks like he was telling the truth. We can walk straight through.” She hoped. Celes took a breath, closed her eyes, and started forward.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a cave. It was lit by torches set into the walls, leading down into its shadowy depths. She turned around to see the wall of seemingly-solid rock blocking her exit. She hoped that was an illusion too.
”It’s safe!” she called back. Would sound travel through? She had no idea. ”Let’s go!”
Post by Celes Chere on Oct 28, 2020 10:21:58 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@zara
Oh god he tried to carry her. RIP Nyx
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Celes gasped for breath, unsteady on her feet as the world spun around her. Caius had never warped them so much. It was terrible circumstances, she knew, but still she felt a swell of appreciation for Caius at the thought. Apparently, a kingsglaive was just as comfortable defying the laws of space as walking. It really was sweet that Caius tried not to with her.
It seemed he’d brought them right back where she’d started. How she knew where the boy lived was beyond her, but she wasn’t complaining. The kingsglaive was already giving the idiot man an earful, and Celes did her best to look steady behind him. She wanted to keep her back straight and her eyes sharp as she gave him a piece of her mind. She wanted to, but she found the effort to be too much when she was still swaying on her feet.
The much larger soldier intimidated the carpenter, that much was obvious. It was enough to make Celes want to roll her eyes. Of course he’d listen to a man. Or if not a man then this man in specific. If he’d just listened to her then none of this would have happened in the first place.
’I’m so sorry to have put you through this?’ That apology was directed at the wrong person.
”Of course you’re sorry,” Celes snapped. He was sorry for himself. Now the big, strong family man had been reduced to a whimpering worm. ”You were wrong, weren’t you?”
Celes was not in the best of moods.
”They both owe you their lives.”
Celes looked up at the soldier. He was smiling at her, and that made it hard to keep scowling. She sighed. ”Right.” It wasn’t his fault, really. As long as the idiot got out alive, it didn’t matter who he thanked. ”It’s been a rough day.”
He shifted his weight and shifted her around with him. After a moment, he grabbed a hold of her back and her knees were lifted as she was scooped into her arms. ”Wha-?” She was so caught by surprise that for a moment she could only blink at him. Then her voice came back to her and she shot him a sharp look. ”Hey!” She pushed against his chest, trying to break free.
”I can still walk! And have you ever heard of asking?”
Post by Celes Chere on Oct 28, 2020 9:33:13 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@jessie
Even when she's trying to be nice, she's still a little rude
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
The girl seemed friendly enough, and Celes nodded back in kind. ”Nice to meet you.” She didn’t really have much else to say to Jessie -- not upfront at least. She tried to keep on as professional a face as she could. She was tired.
”Caius isn’t here right now. He's out on some adventure or another, I imagine. I can’t keep track of all the jobs he takes, and that’s my job. Keeping track of them, I mean.” She paused. Why did this woman want Caius so badly? Well, maybe badly wasn’t the right word, but it seemed a little strange to come all this way just looking for him.
”Why do you ask?” He’d probably helped her before -- whatever trouble they’d gotten themselves into. That sounded like Caius. Celes was beginning to wonder if the whole world didn’t know him at this point. Celes was starting to feel popular by association.
That was a new feeling. The closest she’d come to “popular” before was “infamous”.
”If there’s something you need help with, I should be able to handle it just as well. Or I can find someone who can manage it a little better. We have a master healer, gunner, martial artist, and I think a knight? Caius wasn’t really clear on that one.”
Or what exactly a ’knight’ entailed. Celes imagined it a Magiteck knight, and that did nothing for her mood. Oh good, someone else like her. Maybe they could be friends.
”So what do you need? Or were you really just here to see him?” Celes smiled awkwardly. ”Caius is a little better with a sword than friends.” If it really was a casual visit then that would be a first.
Post by Celes Chere on Oct 13, 2020 6:52:58 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@jessie
Lol Celes why are you such a trainwreck?
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
What was she doing?
Celes didn’t know anymore. Not really. She was going to get her life together. She was going to build something that she never could have before, and maybe, just maybe, she was going to be happy. Now she didn’t know. What was she going to do about the Dragonblades? About the life she’d built? About Caius?
What was she doing? She couldn’t answer the question.
The Wyvern’s Rest was nearly empty that day. Cancelled for rain. It had been raining an awful lot lately, but she supposed that was tropical weather for you. A few mercenaries had stopped by looking for work, but that was it. No training when there was mud. No slipping and embarrassing herself if she could help it. She sat on one the couches, half-sprawled sideways with a book in her hand in a lame attempt to distract herself from thoughts that dominated her mind.
Would she have been better off in that other world -- ruined and miserable and waiting for death? At least then she’d been trying to help people. Then again, she’d also been preparing for a suicide mission against a mad god so who was the winner here, really?
There was a knock on the door.
Celes sat up, startled. A look out the window showed that there was a break from the rain. Maybe someone had thought it was a good time to stop by? Still, the sudden noise had her heart racing. Stupid. She stood, dog-earring her book as she set it aside. She wasn’t in that world anymore. So why did she still smell the ghost of sulfur?
Celes opened the door a crack, peering outside. She’d expected some bulky man with a half-dulled broadsword and a grizzled beard -- trying too hard like so many of the others. Instead, she found a girl. She was shorter than Celes and smaller too. She was dressed for combat sans armor, and Celes blinked at her.
”Er. Can I help you?”
Not the best way to greet a prospective client, was it?
”Oh. I mean…” Celes opened the door wider. ”Come in. Before it starts raining again.” She gestured lamely inside and then stood back, crossing her arms. Nice. She could do nice. And welcoming. And helpful. Why was it that Caius always had her manning the desk again?
”This is the Wyvern’s Rest,” she said. ”Home of the Dragonblades. We take all kinds of cases.” She wasn’t used to people knocking, she realized. That’s why she didn’t know what she was saying. Usually they just shoved the doors open and marched right to her, and she could give them a hard look like they should have knocked, and that put her on the upper foot. Instead, this girl had actually done what she was supposed to.
Well that was...polite.
”I’m Celes.” Celes nodded towards her. ”And you are?”
Post by Celes Chere on Oct 12, 2020 7:13:49 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@zara
Lol Celes why you be like this?
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
The man smiled. Even if he seemed tough, he smiled, and she saw how good he was with the boy. Better than she was at any rate as she held him like a sack of potatoes and did her best to shush him as he continued to shiver. It couldn’t have been hypothermia. Even in this weather, the tropical heat was stifling. Shock maybe? Had he gone too long without air?
She felt an arm snake around her waist and froze. Oh. That was all she thought. Oh. She felt dizzy again and uncomfortable and far too close to someone pulling her even closer. She felt her weight fall away as he supported her in a single, overwhelmingly strong arm. Oh. Oh. Oh.
Oh no.
She barely had time for the dread to kick in before it was happening. She was blinded by light and then her stomach fell away and she was tumbling through space, shooting far too fast for her head to catch up and his arm was around her, pinning her in place as she felt that same bile rise in her throat if there was any left. Then it happened again and again as the flashes stunned her like a strobe light and that bile rose stronger.
Stop, stop, stop! It was painful now and her stomach was definitely not empty. What happened if she puked in midair? Would it rain on the ground? Splatter on all of them. No more!
She gasped hard air, swallowing the incoming rain as she sucked it in like a fish. ”Are we...almost...there?”
Oh god, she was pitiful. Still, with everything she’d been through, she thought she wouldn’t care until morning. No matter how muddy and wet and weak she was, looking like a helpless damsel in his arms. Just some woman in distress too stupid not to jump headfirst into a death trap without a plan. Just another victim to stop and save and add to a hero’s tally board.
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
”I’m not Caius.”
Really? She hadn’t guessed. She raised her head to see that he carried something in his arms. Her breath caught all over again. It was the boy. That same boy with the idiot father who’d tossed him around like a gambling chip. She stared at him.
’He’s here. You saved his life.’ Celes laughed in relief. It was weak. She was weak, but that flood gratitude was worth it. She thanked the world, her instincts, and the sheer luck of it all that this man would stumble across them in the middle of a hurricane. She’d saved a life. That was something.
”I’m okay,” Celes said. She forced herself to her feet and swayed as her vision darkened and her head spun. Could she walk? Really? It didn’t matter because she was going to -- no matter how she wanted to curl up on the roof tiles and press her head into her knees. She didn’t have time for that.
”I can heal him.” She still had her magic. Even if she wouldn’t be running any races, she still had that. ”If he needs it. A cure spell…” She couldn’t think straight. Damn it.
She took the boy and held him weakly in her arms. He wasn’t heavy, exactly, but with the adrenaline wearing off, he felt like a boulder. The boy was trembling terribly. Celes tried her best to press him against her, muttering, ”It’s okay. Sh. It’s okay.”
Was that how she was supposed to comfort a child? She had no idea.
”You can warp if you want to,” Celes said. She grabbed onto him and was surprised by how good it felt, leaning into someone like that. For a moment, she closed her eyes and just breathed. If she was still enough, maybe her ears would stop ringing. ”I’ve done it with Caius before. I know how it works.”
A friend of Caius? Well, that made sense. She wondered if he’d finally found someone he knew from before -- in that terrible, dark world that he sometimes spoke of. She hoped so.
”Well. Lead the way.” She gave him a wry smile. ”I don’t think I’ll be much good anymore.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Hold on.
Celes gripped the branch with everything she had, one-handed, slipping. Hold on. She heard the booming thunder over the water in her ears. She tasted mud and river muck. She has half-drowned and running out of air. She felt light-headed. Her chest hurt.
(salt and dark water, above, below, a dry, dead haze, and she was fading, fading, fading-)
Then there was a brilliant flash of light.
She couldn’t make sense of it. Not at first and not in the moment after as she saw a figure form out of it and a rough hand grabbed her and thrust her into its grip. She gasped in surprise and took in a whole lungful of water, sputtering.
”Let go!” The voice echoed to her. A dream? Well, what did she have to lose?
She let go.
The water took her in an instant, but not as quickly as those strong, rough arms. Then there was that same flash of light, blinding this time and her stomach gave a familiar turn. It felt like she was being spun on her head. It felt like the ground had fallen away and she was falling in some too-bright void, and she gave a startled yelp through her coughing as she streaked through the sky. Then just as quickly as it had started, it stopped, and she felt her body hit something solid, coming to a rolling stop.
She was bruised. She was battered and soaked and could hardly breathe, but even as she choked on her last gasps of air, she managed to sputter the word, ”Caius?!”
Then she retched.
It was like she was drowning all over again, this time in reverse. She heaved up muddy water, her mouth flooding with it as it splashed onto the tile, seeping into her clothes. She was helpless on her hands and knees, vaguely aware of the fishy scent and the way it came up brown. It felt like death, but she kept retching until there was nothing left, and she was left weak and trembling. She rubbed bile from her lips with the back of her hand.
”C-Caius?” she asked, and she squinted through the shadows and the rain. It was Caius, she thought, tall and strong and dressed in his duster jacket. They’d done his warp, hadn’t they? But then she noticed the short, dark hair. This man had a different face. Even through the stringing rain, she could see that.
”Oh,” she said then lowered her head again. It was spinning. ”Where is he? The boy? Is he alright?” She felt sick all over again. If she’d lost him…
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Vincent would join. It wasn’t unexpected, but it was nice to hear anyway. She’d never had a single person turn down their terms, and why would they? Their guild wasn’t out to make money. If it was, Celes could have afforded a better apartment. Instead, it existed only to benefit everyone who came. Caius would have it no other way.
”Sure,” Celes said. She stood. ”My place isn’t anything much, but you don’t seem like the kind of guy who’d want that anyway. There are some cheap apartments nearby. I’ll show you which ones are…” She hesitated. ”Well. The ones that don’t mind people like us.”
She smiled wryly. It was ironic that so many people would give her a terrible side eye when she was the one saving them half the time. It was terrible all around, really, and she knew it bothered most people more than it bothered her. She was used to that kind of look. Being a conquering general didn’t tend to win her any popularity contests.
”I’ll see you soon then,” Celes nodded at him. ”Whenever you’re ready. There’s always someone here. Me, Caius, then I have a few other men I trust to hold down the fort when we’re both away. There’s also Yuna, but she’s usually in Provo anymore. I’m sure you’ll meet her.”
She tried to imagine the two of them talking. Friendly, pure-hearted Yuna with this too-serious man who seemed like he would have been aloof if he’d cared enough to try. He wasn’t trying to prove anything, Celes would give him that. In that outfit, she’d somehow expected him to be a try-hard.
He said that he wanted some new clothes for the weather. Celes laughed. ”I think that’s a good idea.” She was already sweating again. The tropical heat wasn’t always this terrible, but it was today and she could only imagine what it must have been like for him in full leather clothing and that cape he’d come in with. ”There are some shopping plazas on the east side of town. I’m sure you can find someone to go with you if you want.”
Not her. That sounded awful.
”Well. Good luck.” She felt suddenly awkward again. She wasn’t great at saying goodbye. Or much anything else, really. ”It was nice to meet you.” Was it? Well, she figured they’d have a better conversation next time at least. ”I guess I'll see you around. Vincent.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
The rain struck her like bullets. The wind howled like something alive, and Celes felt her hair whip around her face in thick, tangled cords. She was dripping wet. Her usual clothes (yellow jacket, tank top, string-strung pants) were soaked through down to her boots. Even standing on the side of the city streets, she felt like she might be swept away. Still, she gritted her teeth, straightened her back, and yelled.
”There’s no time! You have to evacuate!”
She stood in the doorway of a stubborn man -- a carpenter who flat out refused to heed King Hremit’s warning. ”It’s just a storm,” he said. ”What if there’s looting? I’m not going anywhere!”
She hated his small, watery eyes. She hated his pointed, shrew-like face. Behind him, a maybe six-year old child clutched at his thick, wood-cutting apron, staring at the blackened sky with wide eyes. Celes gave the man a hard look.
”You have to leave!” she said. Her voice was getting hoarse from yelling over the storm. ”It’s not safe here!”
The man looked offended then. He grabbed his leather cutting knife and stepped outside, closing the distance between them. The child shuffled after him, his father’s apron clutched tightly in his fist.
”You think I’m leaving everything just because someone like you tells me to?” Already, the man was soaked. His red face was shining wet, and she saw the individual droplets streaming down his nose. ”I know you! You’re that mercenary girl! Well you’re not going to threaten me! King Hremit’s a coward! Real men like me, we know what we’re talking about!”
”Are you stupid? The storm’s here! You see it! I see it! This is low ground!” She gestured violently behind her. The street was half homes on one side, half riverfront on the other. The waters swelled despite the king’s best efforts to quell it. A makeshift damn was the only thing keeping it from washing the whole street away. ”We don’t have time for this!”
She knew it was useless before he said anything. She knew that she should just leave him here or, if she really cared, grab her sword and make him listen. She knew that the evacuation was her job -- the one that Caius and Sabin had left her with because she knew healing magic and they didn’t -- and that they really didn’t have time. Still, she couldn’t help but stare at the man in utter disbelief as he grabbed his child’s hand and held it up, dragging him forward with a yelp.
”You see this!” He shook his child in front of her, spit flying from his lips. ”I’ve got a family! A business! What do you think your orders are going to do for that? You really expect me to leave everything just to satisfy-!”
She didn’t get the chance to hear who he thought he’d satisfy. At that moment, they were interrupted by a single, horrible crack.
Celes froze, horror dawning before she really understood what was happening. The crack was followed by a deep, creaking groan. Then there was a sound like an explosion and it was all over.
The dam had broken. Celes had time for only that thought before the water crashed into her with the force of a freight train. Celes grabbed desperately for a nearby lamp post, holding onto the slippery metal as she grounded her stance and grit her teeth and tried to bear it. It hurt. She couldn’t breathe, and in that moment, she thought it might be over. But it passed. Somehow it passed, and Celes was left gasping for air.
The man was yelling something she couldn’t hear. Her ears were still shot.
”Huh?” She was groggy. Half-drowned. The man had retreated back inside where he stood, eyes wide and still shouting. Then she caught a few words above the storm.
”...Ben-!...Gone-!...Help him!”
For a moment, Celes could only stare at him stupidly. Then it clicked. His son was no longer at his side.
She cursed.
”Stay there!” She ran down the street, puddles splashing, boots slipping. She ran with everything she had, hoping beyond hopes that the boy had somehow made it. That maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t lost and she might catch up to him after all. She didn’t have much hope. The water had crashed into them faster than she could ever run, but she had to try and as she sprinted as fast as her legs would take her, she finally spotted what she was looking for. A small head barely bobbing above the water.
The boy couldn’t cry for help. He could only grasp desperately at the legs of the dock that held him against the raging water. Relief flooded her and then indecision and then panic. All she had was blizzard, and if that didn’t break his grip then it would just as likely kill him first. She knew what she had to do, and filled her with so much dread that she was gasping all over again. But the boy needed help. And her body knew what to do even if her head was screaming.
She took her final running start and dove into the waves.
She lost her breath. The water pushed and pulled and dragged her under. She felt herself tumble and turn in the filthy water that shot up her nose and fouled her tongue. Sheer panic shot through her, heart fluttering, vision dark.
(the ocean rushing to meet her, hard salt, can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t-!)
Why wasn’t she kicking?
She did -- hard -- and thrust herself up with her arms. She resurfaced, gasping so hard that she swallowed water instead. She coughed, looking around frantically, and there it was. The dock rushing to meet her. She waded forward, keeping her head above the water, until she reached the boy. He looked like a drowned rat, small and matted with pale lips and wild eyes. She caught the dock and held fast, grasping at it the same as him.
Well this was perfect. But now what?
She looked around frantically until she saw it. The river bank was lower than the dock. It was cut into a kind of canal with a sheer drop into the water, but the river was flooding and it was only an arm’s length between the water and the street. She looked further down the river and saw a long-hanging willow tree planted along the river’s edge. Its branches hung into the raging river.
The plan formed itself. And with that, she grabbed the child, yanked him off the dock, and kicked herself into the swell.
They made it. Somehow they made it as she swam on her back, holding the boy in one arm and thrusting herself forward with the other. She grabbed for the branch, seizing it tight, but the water tugged and pulled on both of them, and she couldn’t steady herself. She did her best to keep the boy above water even as she was dunked again and again beneath it.
Was this how she would die? Really?
”Help!” She let out her strangled shouts with the last of her breath, wasting her sweet air in the drowning rain. ”Someone! Help!”
