Circus Clouds [Fran/Cloud]

[Balthier]

you're like diamond

and i'm like glass

TAG: Fran, Cloud Words: 676

ONE LAST THING: Woo! Fairly proud of this starter for once.

”Even the dark corners feel like a lighted stage.”

Balthier’s quip to the Viera beside him came matter-of-factly, his eyes intent on the room before them as he sat with a glass of liquor in his hand and his arm strewn along the back of the booth where the two of them sat. He made a motion with his hand, letting the ice in the glass clink against the sides quietly before he moved the liquid to his lips again. Admittedly, the drink’s preparation and taste showed the mark of a good barmaid – the rather voluptuous young lady with the dark hair that claimed she ran the place, occasionally passing by the doorway of the room wherein the sky pirates were sitting – but Balthier could not help but pick up the hint of a different taste in his drink as it swept across his palate. He lowered the glass down to the table with a silent sigh. Ah, yes, he was being quite picky and perhaps rather childish for the loss of his Ivalician pubs, but only Fran would have the ability to judge such childishness. He sincerely doubted that she felt any differently from her seat.

They could not have found a better well in which to whet their appetites, though considering most of the bars that Balthier and his partner had come across on Gran Pulse, the complement wasn’t any reason for the owner to become too enthused. Still, this 7th Heaven that they currently sat within had proven the one place that looked to be up to their typical standards. Balthier and the lovely Viera to his side had never been ones to settle on the qualifications of an establishment. For both of them to have parked themselves in a booth for the better part of the night as opposed to escaping through the door at first chance spoke that the aforementioned barmaid did have a grasp on her trade, regardless of Balthier’s pickiness about his drink.

The atmosphere was, despite Balthier’s earlier comment, tolerable as well, though naturally he and Fran tended to keep to themselves on these evening excursions if they could help it. His earlier comment had been born from the continued tendency of the residents of this city to give Fran their undivided attention. One particular younger male at a table across from the sky pirates had been completely enamored by Balthier’s companion and, as Balthier had noticed in studying the youth from the corner of his eye, had barely taken his eyes off of her to speak with the rest of the company at his table. For the first time, Balthier looked the youth square in the face to discourage his awful ability to stare. The Archadian’s eyes slowly slid from the youth’s, once he was sure the youth had seen him returning the stare, over to the exposed midriff of the Viera that the other set of eyes had been trained on. Balthier’s gaze didn’t linger there, rising to Fran’s face with a shake of his head. ”If the typical citizen is any indication, these people would see you drowning in gil if they could only pay to watch you all hours of the day,” the sky pirate disinterestedly commented, looking back at the youth who was starting to get the hint and finally averted his eyes. His tone dropped into one of distaste. Naturally, he couldn’t expect the two of them to walk around day and night with not a single individual taking a long look at Fran and all of her…offerings as a Viera. Balthier did expect them to close their gaping mouths occasionally, however, to keep the flies from entering. ”You would hope their eyes would eventually grow tired.”

His drink was brought to his mouth for another sip, his eyes returning to their neutral position in indifferently scanning the room. The people Balthier could see, Fran could hear twice as well. There must have been some interesting thought or other being expressed in this place. ”Have any thoughts on our evening’s business, Fran?”

like oil and water we always clash

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[fran]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Excuse me while I light up the Sky {WORDS } 793 {TAGGED } Balthier, Cloud{WEARING} Normal armor The familiar voice didn’t deter mahogany eyes from their search of the room around them. She heard him of course, but as always, she took a moment to respond, carefully weighing her words. “A lit stage would be a perfect place for the Leading Man.” Fran knew best about Balthier’s…desire – or perhaps slight obsession – about playing the role as the leading man. Despite that, she couldn’t quite help herself when it came to teasing him about it. “Or perhaps I am right and you are more a supporting role.” Long fingers curled around her own glass of potent drink, easing it up to her lips slowly and drinking just as slowly. For a moment she let the liquid settle in her mouth before she swallowed it down to feel the familiar burn. At that moment a slight ruckus burst out across the room, where two humes seemed quite upset over something. Upon closer study – though she held a bland expression on her face – she realized they were fighting over a game of cards. Just as carefully she set the glass back down, her hand making a subtle gesture of annoyance by drumming against the table. Her senses could be both a blessing and a curse at times. Along with her own race. She thought that while observing yet again how the humes seemed to look at her. If she had any less confidence with herself, perhaps it would bother her more. As it was, their looks were nothing more than an annoyance. And an annoyance it was. ‘Tap, tap’, went her fingers softly against the table top while her red eyes flickered to one that was being particularly blatant about his staring. From what she had seen, most of the humes of this place didn’t seem to know what manners were, particularly around her. She’d always received the attention of the opposite sex in such a way, though, and dealt with it as she would any other time – by simply ignoring the eyes and diverting her attention elsewhere. Unless she roughed them up quite a bit, they weren’t going to quit, and so it wasn’t worth the effort that it would take to deter the wandering gaze. Still…while she felt no lack of confidence under the scrutiny of others, Fran didn’t like it either. A near smile reached her lips when she noticed Balthier’s look that had been given to the youngling, shadowed by the tilt of her face and the subtle change in her lips and nose. Shifting slightly in her seat, Fran lifted her hand to rest under her cheek, her elbow supporting her on the table. “Do not be jealous.” A moment later she flickered her gaze between the two, not feeling the necessity to announce needlessly that she had only been teasing her companion. “I was rather surprised his eyes did not fall from his face.” Yet again the annoyance of a sharp sound infiltrated her sensitive ears, causing her nose to wrinkle slightly. Eyes once more turned to where a customer had dropped his glass – the shattering what had pierced her ears so readily. At times the setting she found herself in was one that caused extreme irritation, but as was the case with Fran, she kept it mostly to herself. While one conversation was dealing with talk of the civil war, yet another was talking about-… Hmm. Swiveling slightly, Fran fixed her attention on a hume that was talking to a female – obviously in hopes of impressing her. From the conversation she heard, he was telling her about some valuable piece he held in his possession. Balthier’s question was the encouragement she needed to bring it up. Once more turning toward him, Fran took another drink and then set her glass down once more. “The hume sitting ahead four tables is discussing of a valuable piece he hopes to impress the female with. Perhaps worth pursuing.” {NOTES}

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Thousand Foot Krutch

[Cloud Strife]

Cl

oud walked into the bar, allowing the door to click shut behind him. It was far busier than the 7th Heaven back home... Of course, the last time Cloud saw the bar before taking off on another delivery was right after the Geostigma crisis, when a number of the population was dying from an illness. He spotted an empty stool at the bar, and slowly made his way to the vacant seat, crossing the room in a long, uninterrupted line before reaching the seat, taking his sword off of his back and leaning it next to him. Peeking over the bar, and helped himself to a glass, leaning over to fill it with water before sitting back up, one elbow on the bar for support. He then turned his attention to the rest of the room.

It was amazing how you could tell who was from Gran Pulse and who was not, just simply by how the person looked. When he had skimmed the room, he noticed the man and the girl with the ears almost immediately, but paid them little mind. All he wanted was a glass of water, then to go back to working on what was left of Fenrir. He turned back around and gulped down the rest of the water, his Mako eyes looking down at the empty glass in his hand. Since Tifa had moved into this place and opened this bar, he figured it was her way of possibly moving on. Though, there was still the worry. Just listening to her voice was enough for him to realize that she hadn't, and probably won't get over the reality.

Their home is gone.

He filled the glass again, leaning back and sipping from it as he drummed his fingers on the bar, trying to figure out his next move. Should he discard any hope of going home and open a delivery service here? Should he go back out and try to find out what happened to their home? He really didn't know what to do, which frustrated him. He hadn't had the chance to really talk to Tifa since they had gotten back, having been working on Fenrir. He sighed, standing and setting the glass at the edge of the bar, dropping a gil into it, and turned to walk out of the bar. He had to fix Fenrir. He had to get moving.

---------------

Word Count: 405
Tags: Balthier/Fran
Notes: Such a rambly post...

[Balthier]

you're like diamond

and i'm like glass

TAG: Fran, Cloud Words: 958

ONE LAST THING: Where did this length come from what.

A set of Archadian eyes giving nothing but a look shifted, along with a roll of the neck, to the Viera at her words, before the same neck and eyes returned to their previous position, regarding the room impassively. ”Leading men do need their time out of the limelight,” he retorted, blandly, ”especially when the scene shifts.” Both of them knew exactly what he meant without an explanation necessary. While they could both act rather boldly while in the company of the people of their home world, what with their reputations preceding them, in this new world, the two sky pirates were treading on a sheet of shattered glass. No one here had reason to fear nor respect them – yet. Until he and Fran had dipped their feet in the water deeply enough to make a reasonable splash, there was no reason to go diving into the pool. Balthier had all too much experience in making the dive too long before testing the waters; his time as a judge was telling. He would rather their experiences with the Gran Pulse government would not end as his experiences with the Empire.

But tonight was not the night to converse or even to think on such matters. The less at odds they were with the current quasi-dictatorship while they tried to enjoy their drinks, the better. Of course, though, they couldn’t pass their lives without some sort of minor obstacle proving to stand in their way, however tiny it might have been. It was clearly too much to ask to expect Balthier’s own gender to act with some sense of respect, wasn’t it? Even as he discouraged the young man across the room, Balthier knew that those same wide eyes would find their way back over to Fran’s side of the table again before too terribly long. And Fran was clearly not helping the process. Balthier cut his eyes towards her as she leaned onto the table, a faint smirk emerging. ”The day I exhibit jealousy towards prepubescent gawkers is the day I ask that you put the Strahl in the sea with me in it, Fran.” He tipped his glass to toast the truth of his own comment. ”Perhaps you should ask him if he wouldn’t mind you plucking his eyes out the next time, then we’ll see how his attention turns.” Naturally, Balthier was exaggerating, but at times, a little exaggeration could go quite a long way to revealing a truth.

He only regarded the shattered glass across the room long enough to acknowledge the fact that it was not only a distraction to him, but a siren to Fran, before eyes shifted away. They both had much more interesting things to hear and see than people who could neither hold onto their drinks nor hold in their drinks. Some poor sod had already soiled the floor with his night’s earnings from alcohol. If only they would operate here as they did in Ivalice – the inexperienced youths were handed the watered-down liquor despite their request to the barman and the experienced drinkers received the best and strongest of the drinks.

His eyes searched for the subject of Fran’s words, with Balthier spotting the man almost instantly and studying him closely. Though no reader of silent words by any stretch of the imagination, Balthier attempted to study the fellow’s words and the side of the female’s face for a few moments before shifting his elbow behind Fran and taking another sip of his drink. Tapping lightly on the side of the glass, he curled a lip. ”If he proves as lax in handling his property as he is lax in dressing himself, we could have quite an easy bit of work on our hands to acquire said piece. Judge valuation by the lady’s expression, and we’re dealing with Gran Pulse’s most priceless possession.” Of course, if she valued the man for the way he dressed, her valuation was fairly worthless, was it not? Still, Balthier thought it at least worth their moment’s interest. Anything of worth in their hands, considering their current state as newcomers, would be well worth its weight in gil.

Letting Fran continue to listen, Balthier’s gaze drew slowly across the side of the room before landing on a rather curious-looking subject at the counter…not that most on Gran Pulse didn’t choose to make of themselves a veritable walking circus, as it were. However, this one seemed, to a degree, to be some horrible cobbling of the good Captain fon Ronsenburg’s propensity towards oversized blades and Vaan’s almost girlish facial appearance. The first Balthier could judge by the massive weapon that sat beside the young man. The other only took a glance to the face and strange eruption of hair atop his head. However, what he seemed to lack of both was any since of social interaction, sitting there rather alone as it seemed to the sky pirate. After a handful of seconds of studying him and a couple of sips of his drink, Balthier quietly tapped his fingers along the top of Fran’s back to draw her attention.

”There sits a hume whom deciphering takes no Vieran senses,” Balthier commented to her, just before the man stood from his seat and seemed ready to exit. With them positioned to watch anyone who entered or exited the main door, Balthier shot Fran a sly gaze before letting his eyes turn to a relatively neutral position somewhere behind the man. ”I trust you’re a popular subject of the city's gossips,” Balthier said aloud, with no one else within range to hear but Fran and the passing mercenary-type. ”For better or worse. I assume you do realize people do talk of men with blades of such scale.”

like oil and water we always clash

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.