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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"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."

Rukia nodded once to answer his question. As organized as the Soul Society's thirteen divisions were, there were still souls that managed to elude detection. It was why Hollows persisted. "I'd like to know how souls are allowed to pass on in this world. I had thought Hades responsible, but now I'm not entirely certain. It seems that some transform and become hostile, but even then, that's not an absolute certainty. They could be simple monsters like anything else. There's much I wish to better understand."

But, much as she enjoyed bantering about the possibilities, it was best to turn toward lighter topics in an effort to get to know one another better. She listened to Ramza, her expression thoughtful. Adventures? That pulled a quirk of a smile out of her, which swiftly turned to a chuckle. "That it does. We need never complain of boredom so long as we are here." Even during the time loop, she'd found there was always something to learn and do, skills to perfect, information to gather, people to meet.

She studied Ramza once more. "...You're a good Hero. It's easy to see that you're the kind of person to put the needs of others before your own." Rukia lifted her head to look out at the rain-spattered woodlands beyond their picnic shelter. "There is little question as to why you would be summoned as a Hero of Light."

Ramza shrugged, uncertain of what to do with the praise she gave him. He tried to be the type of son that would make his father proud, the brother that his sister could rely on, but he was aware that he had many shortcomings.

"I wonder if if the Crystal's choice is so purposeful as that. It may well choose at random." It had chosen Dycedarg, in the past world, and Graham and Gaston and many others that Ramza doubted should be called 'heroes'.

He nodded toward the basket. "Did you get enough? There is plenty more there, if you want for more refreshments."

Rukia held up her palm with a smile. "I've eaten my fill, thank you." She'd never had much of an appetite, even when she'd been adopted into the Kuchiki family and allowed to eat as much as she desired. Once she was full, that was the end of it.

Still...

"Random? It's possible... I can't help thinking there must be a reason that certain people were chosen, however." She gave the picnic basket a nudge in Ramza's direction. Just because she'd had enough didn't mean he was restricted from eating anything more. "Nearly everyone selected has some degree of combat ability, it seems."

"The powers of their crystals facilitate combat, though. And not everyone has the desire to fight, even if they have the ability. I do not know if there is some hidden quality that drew the Crystal to us, but we do not seem to all adhere to a common criteria in any way I can see."

He secured the food inside the basket, also finished for now. He stoppered the wine bottle and stowed it as well.

"Perhaps if we find the Queen, she could tell us more." He stood, and offered Rukia a hand to pull her up.

"Perhaps," she agreed, blinking at his hand in a stupor for a moment before she realized he was being gentlemanly. That was something she'd have to get accustomed to, as very few people openly exercised manners around Rukia...especially if they were close friends.

She rose to her feet and looked around. "I don't know anything about her, I admit. Was she present when you first arrived in this world, or has she always been absent?"

"She disappeared before the first Heroes arrived, from what I understand. All I know of her is what we learned from her younger self in the past, and from her generous gifts this December."

When Rukia was back on her feet, Ramza whistled for the chocobos that had been grazing while they picnicked. The birds came trotting back to their riders. "The Queen asked not to be pursued. We can only hope she will return when she deems it time."

"I see...that's unusual." It wouldn't be the first time a noblewoman had abandoned her station for one reason or another. It had happened to the Shihouin family in Soul Society as well. "Perhaps she eloped with a commoner?" Rukia suggested. She didn't really know enough about the queen to really say.

She helped fold up the blanket, packing up the birds to carry the supplies before pulling herself up into the saddle.

Ramza shook his head. "We met her in the past. I am sure you have heard mention of our adventures in Aqures Tosf. She is devoted to her people, and to the Heroes of Light she met as a child. She would not be away unless she had to be."

He swung a leg up over his chocobo and mounted. It was time to be heading back, before the weather took a turn for the worse.

Edited 2016-02-24 01:38 (UTC)

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The Knight and the Shinigami

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