melodiesoflife | The Knight and the Shinigami

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The Knight and the Shinigami

WHO: Ramza Beoulve, Rukia Kuchiki
WHAT: Now that the ghosts have calmed down, Rukia makes good on her auction date with Ramza at long last. Chivalry meets cliches!
WHEN: November 4th
WHERE: Aqures Ixen

If anyone asked Rukia why she'd bid on Ramza, she would have told them, and they would have been bored. He seemed like someone who possessed honor and kindness, and with those qualities, she thought his bids should be better priced. So she'd done it with the intention of giving his date a higher value, and wound up winning somehow. And that was fine. She wanted to know more about her allies in this city, and he'd more than proved his worth by expressing his patience and understanding when she'd put aside social obligations for the sake of ghostbusting.

After defending the Crystal of Fire together on October 31st, she knew that he was a fine ally indeed. As such, she was very much looking forward to their 'date.' She wore a loose boatneck sweater over a tunic dress with warm leggings, having learned from her time with Raven that it wasn't necessary to do anything more than 'look nice' instead of putting on something to lead to a certain wacky scenario. Ramza seemed like he knew what he was doing, and had even told her he would arrive at her home to pick her up.

So far, so good! What the date would entail, she didn't know. She'd reviewed her illustrated notes one last time, just to be sure she'd know what to do if any of these 'common dating scenarios' arose. Of course, after none of them appeared on her previous date, she was starting to doubt just how common they truly were...

A knock on the door pulled her attention away from her sketchbook, which she left on the coffee table as she hurried to the door and pulled on her boots, grabbing her coat. That was likely Ramza. She opened the door and smiled.

"Greetings, Ramza! I hope you are well?"

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He sighed at the thought of a second auction. At least it was better than the disastrous dates someone had tried to coordinate last February. The auction drew money for a good cause.

He took a sip of his wine before he answered. "Over a year now. I arrived at the beginning of October last year. It is...very different from Ivalice, but there are enough similarities that I was able to adapt, I suppose." Gil, chocobos, summons, endless fighting and world-threatening danger.

"And you? You do not seem lost, as others might."

Rukia nodded. He did seem comfortable in this place, someone she could have easily mistaken for a native if she wasn't otherwise aware that this was not his homeworld. She sipped her glass as well before reaching for one of the sandwiches.

"Lost? I wonder..." She blinked, surprised at his assessment. He had a point, really. There was much she didn't know, and at times it was frustrating, but she'd never really felt much alarm or resentment concerning her transfer.

"Perhaps. My reason for being here is clear enough. 'Save this world, and save my own in the process.' It's a necessary obligation, so my goals are clear enough, I suppose." She bit off a corner of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. ...The filling was actually surprisingly good. "I can make my way easily enough. I have no wish to be a burden to these people. They are the ones who need us, after all."

Ramza nodded and moved to take a sandwich for himself. Barkeep's snacks were not to be wasted.

"Having a purpose helps, certainly," he agreed. "But...didn't you leave anyone behind, coming here?" Surely she had. No one lived entirely alone. And all the logic in the world about saving this world to protect them did not make that lonely, homesick ache go away. He wondered how Rukia put that aside and assessed the situation with such pragmatism.

He put the sandwich down, untouched. The sudden melancholy of his thoughts made his appetite wane.

"I'm not a complete hermit, if that's what you're asking," she smirked, enjoying her sandwich thoroughly. She knew he wasn't, but still, it was strange. She watched his face carefully for a moment as she considered his question. "I was away from Soul Society for several months. It's common for a shinigami to be dispatched to a certain area for a long period of time, after all."

Rukia sipped from her glass, then put it away. She was starting to feel her fingertips warm, which was usually her best indication to stop consuming any more alcohol. Ramza was an expressive young man, and it was obvious that he remained troubled over something.

"So you are homesick," she surmised. He'd been here a long time, so it was understandable. "Who is it you miss?"

"I did not mean to imply..." He did not think she was a hermit. But her answer suggested she did not have a special person waiting for her return. But that did not mean he thought she was some sort of lonely spinster.

He took a long sip of wine before he started again. "You are accustomed to being away. Of course."

Ramza was as well, but there was a difference from being a few days' journey from his homestead and being a world away, unable to reach his loved ones if they needed him.

"There are many friends I miss...but my sister most of all. We lost the rest of our family. I am supposed to be looking after her."

"Relax. I'm not that easy to offend," she reassured him. He was simply too good-hearted, it seemed. He was not the sort of person Rukia was able to tease, she could see that much. It wasn't a bad thing; several of her closest friends had a similar demeanor. She'd just have to keep herself in check.

So he had a sister. And he was worried about her. Rukia tilted her head as she listened. After his response, she brushed at her skirt to smooth it over her bent legs. "While there isn't much I can do to ease your homesickness, I have discovered that those in our world generally do not detect any absent members who come to this world. A young man named Ichigo, one I know very well, arrived here from a point of time earlier than the last event for which I was present. Had he gone missing permanently, it would have been immediately detected." She finished off the sandwich in her hand before brushing the crumbs from her fingers. "It raises some new theories, but I believe it's safe to say that no one will suffer because we were not there. One way or another, our fates are not disrupted. Your sister is safe."

Rukia's reassurance did little to quell Ramza's anxiety about the issue. Yes, no harm would come to Alma, but...

"Some Heroes have 'returned' to their worlds during Crystal Stasis...yet their bodies remained here. It has led me to believe that we do not travel between worlds as our whole selves, but just our memories. And if your Ichigo knew you after you came here, surely he would have noticed the changes in you from your time here, even if no time passed during your absence. But he did not. It is the same for others. No indications of having been here, no changes in demeanor. I think we are but copies of who we were, and so we will never return, because our true selves never left..."

It was Ramza's theory, and the other Heroes he had shared it with did not fully agree with it. But it made sense to him, given the evidence that had presented itself to him.

"There is no true way to know, not until the end of our time here. It has no bearing on what we do or what ends we must achieve. I know I would do best to put it from my mind."

He turned back to the sandwich he had discarded earlier. A poor date he was turning out to be. He needed to turn to happier topics again, instead of constantly weighing down their evening in his sorrows.

"That's a thought I've had as well," she agreed. And a small part of her hoped it was the case. She didn't want to neglect her duties back home to be sure. But she also didn't want to say goodbye to the friends she'd made here, either. She was growing fond of this world, and the people she'd grown to care about too. If she only knew what the case was, it would ease her troubled mind a great deal.

Not that she had any great plans for speaking about her worries any time soon. She could see that her date wasn't really having a great time. Hmmm...

Flipping through her notepad of drawings, she studied her illustrations thoughtfully. Apparently they helped her to make up her mind, as she scooted close to Ramza and put her arms around his neck. He looked lost, and in need of comfort. Ordinarily she might prefer to tease him back out of his unhappiness, or even beat him up and yell at him to get his priorities straight. But she was his date, and his welfare was therefore her responsibility. She could console him with an embrace if that was what he needed.

"Take your time. If it troubles you, do what you must to ease those troubles, whether it be speaking it aloud or thinking it over in silence. I'll offer what support I am able to give."

Ramza tensed up reflexively when Rukia put her arms around him. He did not touch people all that often, and usually on the occasions that he did, he was expecting the contact.

"W-what?" he gasped. "What are you doing? What are those drawings?" Rukia was very kind to offer her support, but he was too baffled to accept her comfort with any grace.

"What does it look like? Has no one ever hugged you before? It's a means of expressing sympathy and comfort, is it not?" she arched an eyebrow, puzzled at his flustered reaction. It wasn't as if she were going to kiss him. Ah, but he'd asked about the drawings, and her expression brightened.

"Research," she answered him frankly. Keeping one arm slung around his shoulders, she reached out to pick up her notepad once more and drag it back between them so she could proudly present her ~~crappy~~ illustrations. "I wanted to ensure that I behaved as a proper date, lest you feel embarrassed or ashamed about your generous decision to assist the Moogles. As I said, the dating customs of the living elude me, but it was nothing I couldn't study on my own."

She flipped the pages with a confidence bordering on smugness, pointing out the drawings. "We already clarified that a merry chase is not traditional for your culture, so ignore that one. Here," she moved her finger to a happy rabbit couple sipping the same milkshake through heart-shaped straws, "the two share a drink. Sometimes one will feed the other. However, I understand this technique is generally reserved for advanced dates, so I didn't anticipate it would come into play."

He flushed. "I have been hugged before...b-but I barely know you." Hugging was intimate, and usually he only did it with those he had known well and was very close with- his late mother, his sister, Yuffie.

He distracted himself with further study of the bizarre illustrations. "You studied the mating habits of rabbits for this?" he asked, still confused why everyone in the pictures was a bunny.

"Oh? My apologies, then." She loosened her arms and sat back, her head bent as a look of apologetic embarrassment settled over her face. There was no point in hugging him if she was making him uncomfortable, as that was the exact opposite of her goal.

Dating really was difficult, wasn't it?

Her head jerked up at his questions, and her brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?" Mating habits of rabbits? She followed his gaze to the sketchbook, which only puzzled her further. It seemed obvious enough to her that the rabbit caricatures were an artistic liberty, but maybe he had anthropomorphic rabbit people who chased each other around and rode motorcycles on his world. Who knew? "Are the rabbits on your world truly that advanced?"

Ramza shook his head. "There are old stories that a race of warriors with ears like that lived in Ivalice before the Cataclysm, but other than a few broken artifacts of unknown origin, there is no proof that they really existed."

It still did not explain why Rukia had drawing of rabbits when she was making a study of human courtship, unless she had learned from those lost rabbit-folk. Or was she just drawing in metaphor for some reason? It really was quite baffling.

"A race of rabbit people...?" Rukia's contrite look vanished into almost childish awe at the very thought. Then again, human-rabbits might be rather strange. She liked the animal in and of itself because of its inherent cuteness and soft fur. Rabbit people might lack such qualities.

"Interesting...and they were warriors as well..." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then paused.

"What was the 'Cataclysm?'"

"No one knows for certain what exactly happened during the Cataclysm, but it changed the face of the world and was believed to have wiped out moogles and several other races in Ivalice. It happened around the same time as a Saint's death, and the execution grounds sinking into the sea afterwards was attributed as the saint's final miracle."

It was a tragedy that had set Ivalice back from airships and floating cities to chocobo chariots and swords. But at least they had survived it. Ramza thought Crystallis's Calamity was much more dangerous.

"Anyway, most of the written records from before then were destroyed, but there are legends and clues that there were once other races in my world. Moogles, the rabbit-eared viera, the winged ones. They were all lost."

Rukia looked thoughtful. "It does seem a little strange for such an unusual race to share a link between two separate worlds. Until coming here, I'd never heard of Moogles. And yet there are two different kinds present here. Perhaps they found a way to leave Ivalice."

Or perhaps Crystallis drew them to this world. A wild theory, she'd admit. Maybe she just really wanted to meet a Viera.

"I hope, when this is over, that we will be able to travel to each other's worlds. I should like to see yours."

Ramza shrugged. There was some way to travel between Ivalice and another world. Cloud and his flower peddler had done it, though neither had remembered the experience.

"Perhaps," was his only comment on the theory.

"Would you truly want to travel to other worlds? I think I would prefer to simply go home." He dug back in the basket and pulled out some little cakes Barkeep had tucked inside. "Although, I admit I will miss this food when we all part ways."

Rukia accepted one of the cakes, carefully holding it in her hands so she wouldn't get frosting on her face or fingertips. "Of course I would! I wouldn't cast aside my allies quite so easily," she replied, sounding almost indignant at the very idea.

Not to imply that he would, since everyone had their own problems at home to deal with, but as for herself, she'd come to deeply value the people she'd met and grown attached to in this place.

She bit into the cake, then paused to appreciate the fine craftsmanship of the sweet. It was honestly quite delicious. She ate another bite, looking thoughtful. "If I knew that were a possibility, it would make my decisions regarding this place much simpler." Her gaze shifted to Ramza. "I do not make friends easily. My status doesn't really allow me to do so, and neither do my duties. But here... There are people I care for very much. I don't want to lose the bonds we've made."

Ramza wasn't sure Rukia, or anyone, would remember the bonds they'd made if they did ever get home. The Gaians did not back in their worlds. But he refrained from voicing that thought. He'd been a poor date so far, but he was trying to be better.

"I am glad you have made friends. When it comes time to rise up and fight, it is always best to care for and trust the people standing by your side."

Rukia chuckled. "Well, I could claim that it's purely for practical reasons, but it's far more selfish than that." Rather than licking the crumbs from her fingers, she reached for a napkin. She was more polite than that. "It makes me happy, plainly and simply put. It's interesting to learn about other people's worlds, and getting to open up and be myself is refreshing."

She leaned back on her hands, keeping her legs tucked to one side. "If time allows for it, I believe my captain would grant me leave to visit the friends I've made here. ...Of course, that's assuming it's even possible. But I hope the ways remain open just the same."

Ramza nodded, and took a cake of his own to nibble on.

"That would be nice. Which world would you visit first, if you could chose any of them?" If Rukia talked to everyone like she did to him, he imagined she had learned at least a little about many different worlds belonging to the various Heroes of Light.

"Hmmmm..." That was a good question. If she were to select her destination based purely on the world itself, rather than the people she cared about... "Perhaps the world Yuna comes from. Spira? I'm curious to know more about this Farplane that she mentioned, and the life cycles there."

Now who was being a lousy date? At least Ramza wasn't cheerfully talking about the different burial rites for lost souls.

"It's interesting that a select few humans perform the duties of soul reapers there."

Ramza did not know Yuna as a spirit guide. He had seen her only as a healer and summoner.

"Is that odd because they are humans, or because they are so few?" To him, it made sense that those who were most in tune with life forces would help their people on their final journey.

"Both," she answered, furrowing her brow seriously. "It's a heavy workload for Soul Society to manage, and we have the ability to travel great distances thanks to the Hell Butterflies we use to move between our realm and that of the living. But perhaps souls are able to pass more easily without assistance in Spira. I am unsure," Rukia shook her head. "So I would like to know more."

There was a pause, and she blinked, the wrinkle in her brow fading. "Ah...forgive me. I may not know much about dating, but I doubt this kind of grim speech is acceptable conversation." Her head tipped slightly in his direction. "What sorts of hobbies do you practice in your spare time?"

Ramza waved off her concern. "It is fine. I find it interesting. Do all souls require guidance in your world?" That would be a heavy workload indeed if they did. Wartime would be unimaginable.

He frowned and reached for a piece of grass to fiddle with as he thought over Rukia's question. He did not really have hobbies, other than training and working, which he had a feeling did not count.

"I...like learning new skills, so I try to study new fighting styles when I am able. I sometimes visit Barkeep's pub to listen to the news going around town." And he wrote letters to his sister that he would never be able to send. "It is nothing terribly interesting. Crystallis keeps us in adventures, so I keep to quieter pursuits on my own time."

The Knight and the Shinigami

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