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year 5, quarter 3
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Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
They were about as graceful as two dead fish.
Celes stifled laughter as she led him around the floor -- two clumsy, stilted dancers just barely keeping in step. She noticed eyes on them. She noticed scandalized looks and pitying looks and the kind of looks that made her feel like she didn’t belong, but really, she found that she didn’t care. They didn’t belong, after all. Why on earth had they ever thought to hide it?
”I didn't know they taught dance as part of military training. I must have slept through that class.”
”Oh, please.” Celes led him into a turn, painfully aware of the position of her feet. Her ankle wobbled as she rounded the corner, but Caius’ bulk made a great handhold for her balance. He was in boots after all. The lucky bastard.
”I told you about that opera, didn’t I?”One, two, three. One, two, three.”They thought I should dance. It was in the part description after all, but I told them I’d had enough. They had me watching instead.” They were completely out of rhythm. They lagged against the beat, and she was so focused on keeping Caius from stepping on her that they nearly collided with the couple behind her. She squeaked, stumbling, before she caught herself and shot the couple an apologetic look. They did not return it.
”A-anyway.” She got them moving again. ”They had me at the rehearsals. It was all a lot of wasted time, but I guess some of it rubbed off on me. Enough to remember the theory at least.” The theory and nothing else. How was she the more graceful one when compared to, well, anyone? But that was Caius, she supposed. Anything more cultured than a campfire was beyond him.
”I don’t know if it’s like a battle,” she said. ”But I guess it is a little alike. You have to read someone. Think ahead. Not that I’d know, really.” She glanced at him. ”Thanks. For trying to make me feel better.” Her cheeks went red. ”I know this is ridiculous.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
“Upset” was an understatement. Relm was devastated. Celes didn’t know by what, but she hadn’t seen the girl like this in all their time together, and it alarmed her. Was it the loss of Strago? That seemed likely, and as she watched Relm try and fail to knit herself back together, Celes couldn’t help a slow burn of anger at their situation.
Did she want them home? Gods no, but why hadn’t the others found their way to join them? Celes had about as skilled a babysitter as she was a cook.
Relm sat forward, her knees at her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She didn’t look at Celes exactly, but she kept her head atop her knees and that was something. Celes didn’t know if she could handle a conversation with a human ball.
Celes watched as Relm spoke. It was a story. A story that Celes couldn’t for the life of her predict its end. Doing commissions. A family portrait. All of it sounded par for the course with Relm, and really, wasn’t that what the girl appreciated? Finally, Relm said her name, and Celes responded with a slow and cautious, ”Yes?”
Why wasn’t it Terra here instead?
Relm looked at her straight on and straight in the eye. ”What are parents like? I don't know. I was really little when mine...went away."
”Oh.” For the longest time, that was all Celes could say. She was caught off guard -- speechless in her own fumbling way. Parents? The word struck her like a pack of snow. But what did that have to do with portraits? Unless…?
A family portrait. Relm was lonely. Celes bit her tongue. ”Well, I wouldn’t say…”That she knew anything about it. What would Terra say? Terra had exactly as much experience as Celes, but she was certain she’d know to say something.
After a moment, Celes sighed. ”I wouldn’t know.” It felt lame falling off her tongue. Wasn’t she supposed to be the adult? Wasn’t she supposed to comfort a crying child? But that wasn’t something that she could do, and she knew it. It was better to fail with the truth than with lies.
Celes gestured awkwardly to the bed. ”Do you mind if I…? Oh nevermind.” Celes marched over and perched on the edge, her own hands clasped together with her nerves. It wasn’t that Celes was adverse to talking, but rather…
Would any of this help? Really?
”I never knew my parents. If I had to guess, they both died in the war. The first thing I remember is magic. Well, when it was bled into me, I mean. I didn’t leave the Vector labs for a long time.”
Celes paused. Shouldn’t she have been the one jealous of Relm? She’d had a normal life on Thamasa, after all, with something like a parent to guide her. Then again, Celes wasn’t a child, and none of it mattered much to her anymore.
”After that, I was brought into the military. Not exactly the best family.” She smiled at Relm awkwardly. ”Really, I think I should be asking the same question of you. Strago loves you. I’ve never known anything like that.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Caius laughed. ”No. But I can learn.”
”Oh no.” Celes felt her lips twitch with a strange smile. The whole thing was so absurd that she almost felt the weight of the situation fall away. There were people watching them, yes, and they most definitely had something to prove, but…
Well, it was all so silly, wasn’t it?
Caius studied the other dancers with a serious expression, calculating them in the same way he would a beast or bandit. Celes felt her head spin with something almost hysterical. She saw each step happen before it did. Caius’ steadying breath. His hand awkwardly at her waist. The other at her shoulder. He was taking this so seriously, wasn’t he? Any moment now, he would step clumsily to the side, leading her along in a kind of stiff and graceless-
He jerked her roughly to the side, and she yelped as she spun around him, fast-stepping just to keep her balance. ”Caius!” His grip was too tight, and he was too strong. He managed to steady her and himself before they both toppled over, but the whole thing was more like an assault than a dance.
And it had taken less than five seconds. As she finally refound her balance, she felt something wild burst from her. She was laughing.
”What are we doing?” Celes brought a hand over her mouth. ”This is ridiculous!” But her eyes were bright as she met his. Caius looked absolutely sheepish. Well, he’d better after throwing her around like that. She giggled.
’You want to take a stab at setting the pace?’
”Well if someone has to.” She straightened herself, calling on her lifetime of military experience to bring herself to attention. Still, that strange smile remained. What were they doing? Dancing, obviously.
She grasped his waist with one hand and placed the other on his shoulder. It was an awkward arrangement. While she’d never much minded his staggering height, she felt dwarfed by it now with her arm stretched up like a child’s to close the gap between their shoulders. She stifled another burst of laughter. No, no. This was serious. Very, very serious...
And there she was giggling again. She really couldn’t stop, could she?
Dancing. What did she know about dancing? She thought of the opera with its trained dancers, stepping and spinning in turn. The impresario had asked her to dance with them, and she’d gone red telling him that singing was quite enough, thank you. But she’d watched them rehearse, hadn’t she?
”Alright. One step here. Another here…” She glanced down at her feet and her accursedly thin heels. Then she looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. ”It’ll be just like sparring, won’t it?” She took a deep breath and started to move.
It was stilted. She was thinking too hard, but she thought it was right. One step here, another there, follow through in a square. She completed the motion, leading on her hulking partner the best she could before starting again. One, two, three. One, two, three.
Would Caius follow through? She braced herself for crushed toes.
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
"Let me guess, he made advances?" Caius asked. "Asked for a dance, perhaps?"
”It wasn’t the dance I minded.” Celes paused. ”Well, alright, I minded, but it was like talking to a brick wall. Men like him simply won’t listen.” It was hard hearing herself make excuses like this. If she’d been allowed any ounce of a spine, she’d have taught him a lesson the only way she knew how. Instead, she was exactly what every man had expected her to be.
A lovestarved twit. An opera floozy. She’d burn this dress before she stayed a moment longer.
Celes gave Caius a long-suffering look. ”He took my hand,” she said. ”Oh, I can’t get out of here fast enough!”
But Caius, it seemed, had other plans in mind. His eyes lit with something almost mischievous -- locked on the slick man something scheming. In other words, something entirely unlike Caius. Celes looked between the two men and felt her stomach sink. Whatever he was planning…
Caius held out his hand. ”Want to spite him before we leave?”
”What?” Celes looked from his hand then back to his mask. His eyes were half-obscured, but he could still see that strange glint to them. Spite him? But he knew they couldn’t cause a scene -- or at least she thought she knew. Caius had never solved anything without the blunt use of his sword, and that was entirely useless here. Celes glanced back to his hand.
And it clicked.
”Oh!” She took an instinctive step back. ”You mean…?”
There was his hand. There were his eyes. There was a man across the crowded dance floor who’d thought himself entitled to her attention.
No. Oh no. Oh-
”Well, maybe…” She glanced back to the black-suited man. She hated his face. She hated the way he stood with his back straight and his hair perfectly in place. He hated the look when he’d tried to be suave, and she hated his look now. His eyes burned with something like offense -- like a child denied a toy.
Denied a toy and forced to watch someone else have their turn. Celes straightened and took Caius’ hand.
”Why yes,” she said. ”I think I will have this dance.” She led him onto the floor before she could really think it through. There was a fire in her stomach that burned hot like an ember. She’d show him that she wasn’t just a do-nothing ice queen. She’d prove to him that it was personal and targeted and that he was as unappealing to women as a grease-haired slug. She’d show him-
That she couldn’t dance. Celes stopped, suddenly shocked by herself. ”Er...” She looked to Caius and then at the other dancers. They were latched together with a few inches between them, hands at their waists and shoulders. She’d seen it done before that night at the opera. She knew the theory, but in practice…
She gave him a sheepish smile. ”You don’t know how to dance by any chance?”
Her hopes all fell on Caius’ delicate sensibilities. This would be a disaster.
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
”I thought you’d never ask.”
Celes flooded with relief at the only words she’d wanted to hear. Caius hated this place as much as she did, and he’d been likewise waiting for the right moment. Maybe it was best that Celes had broken first. Caius was so stubborn he might have continued on all night for the slightest chance of a confrontation with the Original Sin. He had a drive for his work that Celes could never quite understand.
Well, maybe she understood a little.
”What about-? I mean, we still don’t understand anything.” They were bleated words without any real conviction behind them. Just a token effort to sound professional when she really couldn’t have cared less. Let the place burn, she thought. If the Original Sin wanted them so badly as to invite them then they’d done a poor job of acting on it.
Caius looked her over carefully, and for a moment, Celes only blinked back. He’d already seen her makeup and her mask, hadn’t he? He’d heard her cursing as she’d attempted her own side braid and pinned it carefully in place along the back of her head. She felt her cheeks heat at his attention before his eyes shifted to where hers had been only moments prior. The man on the dance floor. Celes didn’t like the way Caius looked at him.
She liked what he said even less.
”What? Oh nothing. It’s just...Well. You know what they say about places like this and women like me. I hate it, but what can I do? I’m supposed to be harmless tonight, remember?” She found a loose fold of her dress and twirled the beaded edge around her finger. Saying the words left her mouth all the more sour. The better part of her wanted to march to every man she’d met and shove a fist in his face. She wanted her back straight and her eyes cool -- The Ice Queen of Vector. She wanted to light fire to every assumption they had and drop them mercilessly from the window, but that wouldn’t help much, would it?
Tonight she was a lady. A nice, proper little lady in a chiffon dress and silver heels -- and she knew what they said about proper ladies even if Caius didn’t. Stay out unaccompanied, and you brought it on yourself.
”Still.” She crossed her arms. Her eyes drifted back to the grease-haired man. ”He was a bit of a creep.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Celes’ heels clicked as she drifted back into the manor hall. She felt vulnerable in this sea of masks and stiff suit jackets. She felt more vulnerable outside. She’d taken her moment. She’d dashed into the gardens, breath tight and hand at her throat, and she’d paid for it in sinister conversation. She didn’t know why. The strange, nearly alien man had been nothing but polite, but he’d sent a strange shiver up her back. She hadn’t liked the way he’d looked at her. She didn’t like the way anyone looked at her at the moment.
Her heel slipped and she let out a sharp cry as her ankle wobbled and she stumbled forward, arms waving at her sides. People stopped and stared at her, wine glasses in hand. Celes bit her tongue. She didn’t belong. Why had she ever thought she could do this?
Somehow she found herself at the edge of the dance floor. Paired couples spun and stepped like velvet birds spreading their wings. Celes wrapped her arms around herself, one hand grasped tight at her elbow. Someone approached her. A man in black tried to meet her eye, his hair sleeked back and his face shadowed behind a sleek blue mask.
”Surely a lady such as yourself isn’t alone?”
”Ah.” Celes glanced to the side. Was there somewhere she could go? Something to help her? ”No. I came with someone. I don’t know where he is.”
”He must not be very attentive then. What kind of man would leave his lady alone?”
”What?” Celes recoiled. ”Oh no! We’re not-!”
”Then dance with me.” He smiled, extending his hand. Celes glanced from it to his eyes and then wildly away. What was she supposed to do? He grabbed her wrist. ”Don’t be shy.”
”No!” Celes slapped his grip away. He winced. She took a step back. ”I mean...I have somewhere to be. I really shouldn’t…” Her head was spinning. She turned and ran.
She couldn’t make out anything through the sea of faces. Or rather, the sea of masks. She wanted to rip her own away. She wanted to snap the cord, tear the ties out of her hair, and wipe off her makeup straight on this godforsaken dress. She stopped on the other side of the dance floor, tense and reeling.
Why had she ever agreed to this? Why hadn’t she told Caius to go alone? Why had she ever bothered to-?
A hand gripped her shoulder.
She squeaked, jolting forward as her hand went straight to where her sword should have been. She whipped around on her heel, ready to slap whatever she couldn’t stab, and then stopped, eyes wild. She knew that face. She knew that hair. She knew the stupid jacket they’d both decided on together. Even with the mask, she couldn’t have mistaken him for anyone else.
”Caius?” Her voice was high and startled. She cleared her throat. ”Oh thank god. I hate this place. Can we go?” She glanced to the dancers and then to the sleek-haired man on the other side of the floor. He was watching her.
”This was a terrible idea. I don’t think I can stand a minute more.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Caius sat up fine. Sluggishly. Laboriously, but fine. Celes could have breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t broken either of them. Not physically at least.
”Well this wasn’t exactly the walk in the park you’d promised. It was only a check-in, remember?” Celes was teasing. It was easier to joke than talk. How long would it be before she could talk?
In truth, she was exhausted too. She wanted nothing more than to lay on her back and let the grass take her as she closed her eyes and folded her hands over her stomach. Would all this leave her if she slept? Would she trap herself all the same? Her hands were still stained with blood.
”If they haven't already figured out that the Dragonblades as a whole are responsible for their problems, they most likely have now. We need to be ready."
”Finally.” Celes smirked weakly. ”I was a little insulted, you know. They acted like you were the only one who mattered.”
Caius forced himself to his feet, and Celes looked after him. He was still working hard. Pushing forward. Celes wouldn’t have minded more time with her knees folded under her in the quiet of the grass, but then he fell and Celes was on her feet in an instant. ”Caius!” She reached for him, but couldn’t reach him in time to keep him steady. She watched him worriedly, hands still outstretched.
”Maybe we should rest?” Once again, she heard the pleading in her voice. She didn’t like it. ”I know they’re coming after us, but we could take a little longer. I think Vordun would notice if we were being ambushed.”
She smiled faintly. ”And after all that, I doubt they’ll ever want to come within fire range again.”
Post by Celes Chere on Feb 9, 2020 19:42:27 GMT -6
[attr="class","oneword1"]
[attr="class","fromyou1"]@faruja
Fight?
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
This was ridiculous.
Celes knew it as she took her stance. She knew it as the long-eared turned to face her, sword in one hand and shield in the other. She’d known it the moment she’d woken up, and the realization wasn’t dying anytime soon. As she braced herself for the attack of a one-eyed, armored rat man, she couldn’t help but wonder how Caius would have handled the situation. Friendlier, no doubt. Was this some kind of man thing? “Hello, nice to meet you, let’s punch each other until we’re friends?” Still, he’d issued a challenge and she’d returned it with one of her own. There was no backing down now.
”Engarde, General!”
The knight took to her at a light, steady pace -- armor clanking in time with his step. Celes set her stance, readied her blade before her, and waited to counter. He was slow. Her eyes caught on her blade, she angled her own, and then he pulled back in time to feint. She saw it coming. She saw it, but couldn’t react until she felt her elbow crack and the pain cleared the sleep from her head. She muffled a hiss through her teeth, caught the flash of an incoming shield, and then something clicked.
Her feet moved on instinct. She swung her body around (faster in her leotard and boots, there was a reason she wasn’t heavily armored), spinning with her blade in her hand as she dodged past the edge of his shield and moved to drive the hilt of her sword into his back. It wouldn’t break his armor, but if he was already pushing forward...
Well, all that weight wouldn’t do him much for his balance, would it?
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
”You know Lady Yuna?” His eyes lit up at her name. Well wasn’t that a coincidence? ”Lady Yuna holds the fate of Spira’s future in her hands. Nothing bad can happen to her. Please, tell me. Is Lady Yuna alright?”
Celes felt her eyebrows prick together. She had questions. Somewhere between five and fifty of them, actually, but she didn’t know where to start. Was Yuna really that important? How could she hold the future, and how did they know each other? Yuna hadn’t seemed like anyone special to her. Well, not more special than a skilled healer and a kind woman. She’d tried her best to teach Celes the finer points of white magic, and Celes was grateful no matter how much she’d fumbled. No matter how skilled her magic, Celes could never learn Yuna’s gentle touch.
”She’s fine,” Celes said. ”Well, as fine as she can be when she’s as lost as the rest of us. I got the feeling she was in trouble when I saw her, but I think she’s safe now. She seemed happy about the-” Celes’ tongue caught. About the party. Yuna was here somewhere, but did she really want to let on about it? She didn’t know this man. She’d never heard his name from Yuna either. Celes glanced towards the mansion’s glass doors. Could she slip away to find Yuna in time to ask? Surely, the man could wait an hour?
”Well, she seems happy.” It was a lame answer. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
”I don’t know about any guardians,” she said. ”I guess that would be me and Caius now? She came through alone. Like I said, I don’t think she’s met anyone from Spira.” She didn’t ask why she’d been guarded. Something about having a future in her hands, she guessed. Was she some kind of noblewoman? It wouldn’t have surprised her.
”Well, it was nice meeting you.” Celes gave him an awkward smile. If she wanted to find Yuna in this crowd, she couldn’t waste time. "I'll be sure to tell her about you.”
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
”Celes!”
There were wingbeats. The sound of Caius’ voice. Celes didn’t look up. Her hand was over her mouth. Her head swam with blood and dust. The old man garbled through the blood in his lungs. It pooled around him, a deep thick red.
’Our fight is not with you.’
Someone took her hand. She gripped it on instinct and let herself be pulled forward. Her boot met hard scales, and she lifted herself, settling one leg over the edge of a saddle. The dragon galloped forward, wings spread, and then leaped into the air, flapping. Celes grasped Caius tightly and pressed herself into his back.
The ground fell away. Her stomach turned. She was shaking.
They didn’t go far. Celes wondered if it was for her sake. She closed her eyes as they tilted forward, drifting down. The forest drew back, and in its place was an open expanse of tall grasses. It would be more open to attack. Celes found that she didn’t care.
The dragon grunted as its legs met solid ground, and Caius didn’t waste time stumbling off him. Celes hesitated before dropping unsteadily at his side. She staggered as her weight hit the earth, knees weak. Caius fell to the ground, his back flattening the grasses beneath him. Celes froze, staring. Was he hurt? All that time, the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.
”Caius…” Her eyes darted over him. No blood. Not his, anyway. Still, something was wrong and she hurried to him, kneeling at his side. She hesitated, reached out to touch him, and then he rolled over and sat up. She pulled back her hand.
”Cel?” His voice was quiet. ”Are you okay?”
She laughed. The noise burst from her in hard hysterics. Was she okay? ”What about you?” She touched at her head, still laughing. Her hair knotted around her fingers. ”You’re the one on the ground. Because of me. Because I wasn’t faster. Because I…” She laughed wildly and pressed a hand over her lips.
Pure emotion swelled within her. She didn’t know what it was. Her eyes burned.
”I’m fine,” she said. ”Well, I’m tired. Demi, you know. But he didn’t…”Hurt me. She swiped her palm furiously at her eye. ”What does it matter?”
She took a long breath. Her throat was tight. The pressure threatened to burst. ’God, you’re like some gibbering schoolgirl.’
”So.” She smiled at him weakly. ”When do you think I’ll get my revenge plot?”
