etraya | UN: ScielCandide

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UN: ScielCandide | Video

[The camera is fixed on a table, upon which sits a neat stack of cards –– black with gold foil in the shape of a sun and moon bisecting each other. The user’s hands pass over the deck and spreads it wide into an arc. Her hands are tanned, with two rings on her ring finger and one on her index finger, and she has so many colourful braided bracelets that some wind around her palm.

Her voice is pleasant, playful, French, a little theatrical:]

Bonsoir, mes amies!

Tonight and tonight only, I will tell your fortune with a single card. Tell me your name, and if you would like to hear about love, money, health or the soul.

If it moves you, you must repay me with an amusing anecdote about yourself.

Ready to play?

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Well, we certainly can't have that. Miss the chance to show everyone here what they could be doing with a scythe?

[ He takes the menu and flips it open, scanning down the columns of text. Most of these cocktails are utterly unknown to him; he may have to just pick at random. ]

Besides, it's strange, isn't it? Going from a fight every time we turn a corner to civilian life again.

Mm. It's underestimated.

[Scary but too impractical for most, the learning curve tremendously steep. She leans her elbow on the bar, cheek in her hand, considering how atrocious it is on the mind to change directions on a dime like they have.]

But we never had this much free time as civilians, either, even as children. It feels like Etraya wants us to enjoy ourselves, and the time we have, instead of living so frantically. Otherwise wouldn't we be sent off on another mission the moment one ended?

And even the missions themselves haven't been the same sort of thing we trained for. No Nevrons, no Continent to cross, no Monolith to try and get to...

[ His drink is almost finished, and he can feel it already starting to work on him, lazy tendrils of warmth slipping into his limbs.

He slides the menu back to Sciel and taps at one of the drink names. ]

I say this one... whatever whiskey is. But blackberries are nice.

Good choice! Guaranteed we’ll like at least part of it.

[As for missions…]

We didn’t even help with the end of the last one. All Etraya’s superheroes did the heavy lifting there! Maybe the next one will involve weeks of marching, camping and life or death fights with Cultists.

We can hope!

[ Bracingly, as though he ever wants to see one of those damned Cultists again. ]

We're about as expert on those things as they come. Toss in a Bourgeon or two and I'll really feel like we're managing to pull our weight.

I wouldn’t mind a Bourgeon. I’d take a Mime, too, just to laugh about it after.

[The bot comes by; Sciel orders for them in advance. No interruptions here. It’s a bit that gives her a moment too long to think, and she remarks:]

I wish we saw more of the Continent together. I shouldn’t have run so far. Might’ve met up with you all sooner.

[ He grimaces at the thought of a Mime and tips his drink up — look at that, just enough for a last slightly-too-big swallow, perfect for this topic of conversation. ]

Yeah, me too. But maybe it's better it happened the way it did, you know? We might have missed each other, since I made Lune keep going past the Indigo Tree without waiting to see if anyone else might show up.

[ Not one of his finer moments, but he'd do the same thing again, if he had to. Maelle had been the only thing he cared about then; he hadn't wanted to rest until he found her. ]

[Bottoms up. The sooner it settles in her belly, the better, she thinks.]

No, you're right, it's better that part went the way it did.

[She'll never say it wouldn't be worth the risk of things turning out differently. There is so much she'd love to change! But changing the past isn't possible, and they didn't get more time together, so the less said the better.

What else to say?]

[ Almost as soon as he's finished his first drink, the second one arrives, waiting. Another dark color, but he's not sure how much of that comes from the smashed blackberries and how much from the liquor itself. ]

Besides, I'll never forget seeing you showered in adoration at the Gestral arena! Have you ever been out of your element for more than a single moment?

[She snorts, attention moving to the drinks for a beat, sliding the emptied glass out of the way and taking the new one between her hands. Best to wait a moment for the Fireball to fade off her tongue, lest the first sip of this one be tainted. She smiles at it, then at him.]

Is there a place on any world that does not have fighting and carousing in some form? I suppose if I found a place that lifeless, I could just bring those things with me.

I'd love to see the effect you might have on a world that's filled to the brim with quiet, taciturn librarians.

[ The bot rolls by again and politely leaves them both a glass filled with water; Gustave takes his to take a sip and wash away the lingering too-sweet warmth of the Fireball on his tongue. ]

Or perhaps a world where no one knows what dancing is?

[She holds the water glass just below her lips as she considers the possibilities.]

Hmm! The people without dancing would be easy, because anyone could be taught that. But I would have to move carefully with the librarians. If I came in too loud or excited, they could see me as a threat to their way of life, so I’d have to very slowly reveal myself, and corrupt them to my ways.

I doubt it'd take long. You have a knack for winning people over, whether they expect it or not.

[ He would expect Sciel to be popular wherever she goes: delightful and ready to be delighted, always willing to enjoy a good time or to create one if no one else is taking the initiative. ]

Soon enough you'd have those librarians drinking and dancing right along with you.

You know, I think you’re right. I am sure many of them would have an entire lifetime’s worth of noise built up inside of them, and I am particularly good at encouraging people to raise their voices.

[She nudges him again with her shoulder, and picks up the second drink again and raises it to him.]

This toast is to shouting.

[ He groans, face scrunching up as he tips his head back to direct his grimace at the ceiling. ]

Thanks. I think I finally went a whole hour without thinking about that.

[ He still feels terrible! That Gestral was just doing its job.

Still, he lifts his drink to her in a wry mirror of her gesture. ]

But yes. Yes, you are especially good at that.

Edited 2025-09-14 00:44 (UTC)

[With a pretend sort of seriousness:]

Careful, now. If you dwell on that forever, you won’t see my next trick coming.

[She laughs under her breath and drinks, and it’s so much better than the Fireball. Sweet without being cloying. Nothing like any other drink she’s had, but that’s the fun of it, the novelty.]

Oh, you had the better pick.

[ He lifts his glass with a nod to her comment, then takes a sip himself, and yes — it is nice. A little tart, a little sweet. Juicy, with a fresh edge to it he thinks might be mint. ]

Oh, just knowing one's on its way is enough for me. Between you and Maelle, I don't expect to ever have a moment's peace.

[She smiles fondly, thinking of Maelle’s glee at pulling little tricks. Poor Gustave, subject to her childish practice, deciding what’s funny and what’s too far.]

I’ll make sure I’m not too bad of an influence. [A considering pause, a little tilt back and forth of her head.] You know, it’s a good thing you’re used to living in a household full of women. If Lune decides to join us, you’ll be hopelessly outnumbered.

I'm looking forward to it.

[ He doubts Sciel and Lune will stay with him and Maelle in that apartment forever, but... it's nice, right now. Having everyone here he cares about so close, with a room open and waiting for Lune if — when — she arrives. ]

But I might be able to win Maelle or Lune over to my side, and then the tables may turn.

[ Another sip; he's feeling pleasantly warm. ]

If one of your pranks ruins something she's working on, Lune would be more than happy to help me retaliate.

[She chuckles, feeling a little challenged.]

Now, now, I would never deliberately harm anyone’s work. [Making the workspace less peaceful is another thing.] I think Lune might side with you just because she likes silliness most when it comes from a Gestral!

Maelle, on the other hand, has been teasing you for as long as I’ve known her. I wonder how you’ll change her ways!

Who do you think was Maelle's first partner in crime, hmm?

[ The two of them wreaked no end of havoc for Emma, but she'd loved it... even if she made them clean up any mess afterwards?

This drink is good; he's taking larger sips this time around. His smile is a little wistful, but the real grief that's been shadowing it since he arrived, since Sciel appeared and told him stories about the world past those cliffs for once isn't shadowing it. ]

She must have loved seeing the Grandis. Lune, I mean.

Mm, that’s right. She had to get it from somewhere, which I suppose makes you the original bad influence.

[She likes seeing that smile on him. It feels a little more hard won these days, and she lets herself drift into the thought of those happier moments, as if she could funnel them right to him.]

She did. She also really loved going to each and every one and asking them questions. Which they actually answer, unlike the Gestrals! I think we could have left her there while we went up to the carousel, and she would have happily listened to them recount all 96 hours of some famous debate.

Of course she did.

[ Warm and fond as his fingers curl around his glass, where his drink is already a little alarmingly low. It's buzzing through his veins, lightening his head for what feels like the first time since Lumière. ]

No one ever has more questions than Lune. It used to drive me crazy, back in the workshops, but it always ended up helping.

[ A thought which leads his bourbon-soaked mind back a few conversational bends, to something else Sciel had said about Lune. ]

You know, Sophie said the same thing. About me and Lune.

Sometimes you need someone to give you a good push!

[It’s good to see him relax, if only in this context, loosened up by alcohol. While she’s not nearly as swept along yet, it’s easy to meet him where he is anyway, where things are fine. Casual.

Open, even. She loves to hear Sophie’s name out of his mouth, and so the news delights her in more way than one.]

Well, if Sophie said it, it must be true. No one knows anyone better than an ex does. What did you tell her?

[ He lifts a hand from around his drink, waves her curiosity off. ]

What could I say to that? It was the day of the Gommage.

[ So like Sophie to try and find happiness for him, even on her very last day. His heart aches, but it's an old, familiar grief. ]

I didn't say anything at all. Thankfully, she dropped it right away.

UN: ScielCandide | Video

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for a wrap!