[untitled; some Edgar/Celes banter]
Mar. 23rd, 2021 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shinonFandom: Final Fantasy VI
Characters: Celes, Edgar. Sabin is just offscreen somewhere, doing some errands
Word count: ~1000
Warnings: None I know of?
Notes: I love... Gerad. I love that whole sequence. I love that FFVI gave me, as a personal gift, a bit where one of my favorites is doing a bunch of goofy shit and my other two favorites are like "lol what" and then they fight a boss together
"So you say I look like a friend of yours," said Edgar, doing something annoying with his eyebrows. He was sitting alone at a round table that had uneven legs and an air of salvage. It wobbled perceptibly when he set down his drink. "Tell me about him."
Celes, standing opposite him, fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't know if you'd like him, honestly. He's smug. He thinks he's the gods' own gift to women." His face lit up, for a moment, in surprise and pleasure - it made him look like Sabin. The exact way Sabin had looked, in fact, that first time in the Serpent Trench when she'd asked him to spar. "I'm sure you have more class than that."
"I've had a lot on my mind lately," he said, "but I'm not indifferent to beauty."
She pulled out a chair next to him. "And that's why it's all right for you to spend the evening before a big break-in talking to a woman you've definitely never met before." She tested the chair to see if it would take her weight. Everything was in ill repair these days.
"I see we understand each other. Buy you a drink?"
"If you must. I don't know what they have around here - something distilled." She sat down. With the preliminaries out of the way, they could get to business: "Do you know if anyone else survived?"
"Lots of people survived. Look around you." He gestured to the people in the bar. They looked much like people ever had, going about their business, but in shabbier clothes. And of course, about half of these were Edgar's new gang. Why did Edgar have a gang? He paused to wave down a waitress and exchange a few words with her, with an attitude incongruously pleasant and courteous given the surroundings, and the scruffy appearance he seemed to be cultivating at the moment, and how obnoxious he was to people he actually knew.
"You know what I meant," she said, when the waitress had gone. "Anyone else that we know."
"Lady, are you suggesting we have mutual friends? Tell me who. I'll go yell at them for not introducing us sooner. Keeping a stunner like you a secret -"
"What if that was my choice? What if I told our mutual friends 'he sounds sleazy and irritating and I don't need to meet him?'"
"Then I'm glad you changed your mind." The waitress came back, and put a cracked teacup down in front of Celes. The table wobbled. The teacup contained an inch or so of what seemed to be rum. Celes stared down at it in thought: this was the world she had come back to.
"It's safe," Edgar said, mistaking her expression. For all he knew, she had been awake this past year, making her own way like anyone else, and none of it was new. "No offense, but if they were going to bump off anyone at this table, it would be me." He grinned, and applied himself to his own drink in a show of confidence.
Celes took a sip. It was truly the worst of both worlds: it felt too thick and sweet in her mouth, and simultaneously the fumes scoured out her sinuses. She managed not to cough. Edgar looked wryly sympathetic, as if he hadn't set her up for this. "Back to my question," she said.
"I don't have the answers you want. After I mercilessly plunder the castle, maybe we'll know more. But of course... I'll have no way to tell you, because you'd know better than to follow me. You and that" - he made a vague brushing-away gesture - "trained bear, or whoever, that was following you in the marketplace earlier -"
"Oh, right. The bear sends his love," Celes said, deadpan, as if this were boring and incidental. "He says he has no idea what game you're playing, and he doesn't want to mess it up for you, so he'll wait to hear about it later when we're all together." This looked to be threatening Edgar's composure. Celes shrugged. "He says strange things sometimes. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Oh, well played," he said under his breath. "Brava. Really." He looked away, and raised his cup again to hide his expression, which was probably about seven degrees warmer and more sentimental than the Gerad persona allowed.
"So I win?"
"You win," he said, after a moment, when he had control of his face again. "I should note that there is no way our boat has room for a comically large man and a woman I've never met. We're going to need a fair amount of equipment, and I'm not going to make adjustments to the stowage just to let strangers conceal themselves on board."
"Why would you?"
"Why, indeed. I can't threaten the security of my operation like that. I might as well promise to explain all my activities of the past year to whoever asked, as soon as this was done."
Celes snorted. "I'll make sure my companion knows not to ask. I'll tell him you're a sealed vault and there's no information to be gotten from you."
"What about you?" said Edgar.
"What about me?"
"Working very hard to crush your curiosity?"
"No, I'm satisfied." She started to get up. "I was wrong. You're not who I thought you were."
"You could stick around anyway," he said. "I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning. Finish your drink. We could - talk -"
"Indirectly," she said. "Like this. Which would be a frustrating way to carry on."
"I don't know what you're implying."
"Exactly. I'm sure I'll see my friend again soon - I'd rather just talk to him."
Edgar inclined his head, conceding the point. "Lucky man. If he's got any sense, he'll look forward to it."
"Here's the odd part. I think I'll be happy to see him too."
Characters: Celes, Edgar. Sabin is just offscreen somewhere, doing some errands
Word count: ~1000
Warnings: None I know of?
Notes: I love... Gerad. I love that whole sequence. I love that FFVI gave me, as a personal gift, a bit where one of my favorites is doing a bunch of goofy shit and my other two favorites are like "lol what" and then they fight a boss together
"So you say I look like a friend of yours," said Edgar, doing something annoying with his eyebrows. He was sitting alone at a round table that had uneven legs and an air of salvage. It wobbled perceptibly when he set down his drink. "Tell me about him."
Celes, standing opposite him, fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't know if you'd like him, honestly. He's smug. He thinks he's the gods' own gift to women." His face lit up, for a moment, in surprise and pleasure - it made him look like Sabin. The exact way Sabin had looked, in fact, that first time in the Serpent Trench when she'd asked him to spar. "I'm sure you have more class than that."
"I've had a lot on my mind lately," he said, "but I'm not indifferent to beauty."
She pulled out a chair next to him. "And that's why it's all right for you to spend the evening before a big break-in talking to a woman you've definitely never met before." She tested the chair to see if it would take her weight. Everything was in ill repair these days.
"I see we understand each other. Buy you a drink?"
"If you must. I don't know what they have around here - something distilled." She sat down. With the preliminaries out of the way, they could get to business: "Do you know if anyone else survived?"
"Lots of people survived. Look around you." He gestured to the people in the bar. They looked much like people ever had, going about their business, but in shabbier clothes. And of course, about half of these were Edgar's new gang. Why did Edgar have a gang? He paused to wave down a waitress and exchange a few words with her, with an attitude incongruously pleasant and courteous given the surroundings, and the scruffy appearance he seemed to be cultivating at the moment, and how obnoxious he was to people he actually knew.
"You know what I meant," she said, when the waitress had gone. "Anyone else that we know."
"Lady, are you suggesting we have mutual friends? Tell me who. I'll go yell at them for not introducing us sooner. Keeping a stunner like you a secret -"
"What if that was my choice? What if I told our mutual friends 'he sounds sleazy and irritating and I don't need to meet him?'"
"Then I'm glad you changed your mind." The waitress came back, and put a cracked teacup down in front of Celes. The table wobbled. The teacup contained an inch or so of what seemed to be rum. Celes stared down at it in thought: this was the world she had come back to.
"It's safe," Edgar said, mistaking her expression. For all he knew, she had been awake this past year, making her own way like anyone else, and none of it was new. "No offense, but if they were going to bump off anyone at this table, it would be me." He grinned, and applied himself to his own drink in a show of confidence.
Celes took a sip. It was truly the worst of both worlds: it felt too thick and sweet in her mouth, and simultaneously the fumes scoured out her sinuses. She managed not to cough. Edgar looked wryly sympathetic, as if he hadn't set her up for this. "Back to my question," she said.
"I don't have the answers you want. After I mercilessly plunder the castle, maybe we'll know more. But of course... I'll have no way to tell you, because you'd know better than to follow me. You and that" - he made a vague brushing-away gesture - "trained bear, or whoever, that was following you in the marketplace earlier -"
"Oh, right. The bear sends his love," Celes said, deadpan, as if this were boring and incidental. "He says he has no idea what game you're playing, and he doesn't want to mess it up for you, so he'll wait to hear about it later when we're all together." This looked to be threatening Edgar's composure. Celes shrugged. "He says strange things sometimes. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Oh, well played," he said under his breath. "Brava. Really." He looked away, and raised his cup again to hide his expression, which was probably about seven degrees warmer and more sentimental than the Gerad persona allowed.
"So I win?"
"You win," he said, after a moment, when he had control of his face again. "I should note that there is no way our boat has room for a comically large man and a woman I've never met. We're going to need a fair amount of equipment, and I'm not going to make adjustments to the stowage just to let strangers conceal themselves on board."
"Why would you?"
"Why, indeed. I can't threaten the security of my operation like that. I might as well promise to explain all my activities of the past year to whoever asked, as soon as this was done."
Celes snorted. "I'll make sure my companion knows not to ask. I'll tell him you're a sealed vault and there's no information to be gotten from you."
"What about you?" said Edgar.
"What about me?"
"Working very hard to crush your curiosity?"
"No, I'm satisfied." She started to get up. "I was wrong. You're not who I thought you were."
"You could stick around anyway," he said. "I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning. Finish your drink. We could - talk -"
"Indirectly," she said. "Like this. Which would be a frustrating way to carry on."
"I don't know what you're implying."
"Exactly. I'm sure I'll see my friend again soon - I'd rather just talk to him."
Edgar inclined his head, conceding the point. "Lucky man. If he's got any sense, he'll look forward to it."
"Here's the odd part. I think I'll be happy to see him too."
