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With the events of their infiltration now over and sunset slowly upon them, the clan staved off their shaking nerves their own separate ways back upon the Broken Petal. Navarro went down deck to tend to what was left of her chocobos, particularly that of Baldwin's steed Luke who now found himself brotherless and slipped softly away from the rest of the group. Dahlia went to her room to lie down desperately trying not to throw up again after all that had passed, whilst James went after Kruz who strode off back to his cabin. The sky burned orange above them as they hovered further into the aether. The rest of the airship's crew went about their daily business unabated by this group's new activities other than that they trusted their captain wondering what had happened to cause him to storm off promptly. Michelle kept on navigation, Tennyson kept out of they way to command all on deck currently with a smile on his face pleased at a little Archadian anarchy, whilst Cid was gleefully elbowing Rzepka upon seeing the fruition of their mission. "I TOLD you it would work!" said the engineer. "Wish we coulda seen that magicite barrier failing though, we have to ask the captain on it later." "You gonna stop using my name now?!" replied the mapmaker. "Sheesh! You see a plan all come together and THIS is what yer worried about?!" "I'm just making sure you keep to your promise Cid, I know that's a lot to ask of you but..." The short engineer stepped back taking offence with hand on his chest staring at the cartographer. "Wha...sir I am SHOCKED and OFFENDED that you would think I-nope-snrrk...n-nope, couldn't, couldn't keep a straight face, sorry." "Ugh, just...use your own name from now on." "I don't HAVE a name and yours is the best I ever known! But no seriously I'm a man of my word and I swore to you under oath, no more namingway business." "Okay that's good. I'm just glad everybody is safe, I need to get back to work." "Alrighty map-matey!" The two headed back down below as Roy decided to put his chocobo first into the stables for safekeeping, following both Cid then Rzepka until they passed to their separate rooms before seeing Fayne and Baldwin who were playing cards with the rest of the off-duty crew. The monk saw him pass by and soon raised his hand excitably. "HOY THERE!" "Hmm?! OH...sup?" "Hey how'd the misszhion go!? Navarro passzhed by but sszhe didn't talk, did everything go well?!" "...uhhhh...mostly." "Wh-...what happened?" "Ah shouldn't be thuh one to tell you, Navarro's down with thuh chocobos if you wanna ask, ahm goin' down there mahself if you wanna come with." "Uhhh...okay." "We will join you forthwith," replied Fayne, "after our little game, won't be long." Nodding softly Roy stepped down further into the hold of the ship, surprised by its odd wood panelling but all the same rather liking its old-fashioned sense of interior decorating. He had heard from James that the captain was rather accustomed to old ships and did not enjoy the interior being of steel mechanial origins. He was still rather surprised also to find someone other than him and FG having travelled across worlds, scratching his head before Cyrus spoke. "Your people are tense." "Whut?" "I feel it, all around you, your friends from the carriage are extremely tense about something." "Yeah well...ah mean one did lose a chocobo." "I do not suspect that to be the only problem. The two brown ones up where we came from...I sensed something else, perhaps a fear inside one of them." "It...wuz kinda tense back in thuh archive, ah mean between them, maybe one of 'em overexerted their emotions an' started accidentally revealin' truths." "Hmm...I never understood this whole sense of 'acting', why would anyone pretend to be something else?" "You never wanted to be sumthin' else Cyrus? Ah mean, you ever wanted to imagine not bein' a chocobo?" "No. Never, I am proud to be one, I am a noble steed and though I may lack some of the...finer points of it I am still a beast of merit above all else. You were the one who taught me to remember that." The raptor looked up at him smiling fondly, rubbing along the back of his neck towards the head ruffling. "Ah know you're good man, you better than anyone thinks." "Only because you dragged me up from the very depths of inequity." "Righ', but...still, you had to do thuh work yourself too." "I know."

Eventually they reached the stables where Navarro had removed her disguise and was now tending to her pack, cautiously feeding them and checking over for any possible wounds they might have suffered from the escape. So far nothing other than a few scrapes and splinters from their passage, as well as the fact their feet were now absolutely foetid with sewer water, but she had made plans already to clean them by a large bucket of soapy water mixed with antibacterial solvents harmless enough to bathe a child in. All except Luke were being tended to, the lone short-haired chocobo of red mane sitting by himself forlornly. Once she had picked them clean she began to get down on her knees and brought out a spongeful of the warm water to clean over their feet, rubbing firmly all over the claws, heel and upper knee as Roy cleared his throat. She looked up as he brought his steed through gingerly. "Uhh hi...just um...puttin' mah steed here too um...ah passed by your bangaa buddies, Fayne an' Baldwin? Didn't tell 'em about whut happened, they'll come down here in a bit." "Mmhmm." "You uh...you want sum help?" "...there is another sponge in the bucket, kupo." He nodded gladly and took Cyrus over towards the side of the stable area, cleaning over his body with a brush first and foremost to pry out all of the wood splinters and dust, before settling onto his wings as he said calmly: "Ahm sorry about yer chocobo. Worst thin' in thuh world to happen." "Thank you," she replied, "but I fear that this may cause a greater schism in our group, kupo." "Huh?" "The one in the corner. It was his brother." "...awwwww no...that's awful." "It is. I should...I should have turned faster-" "You are not at fault, don't ever blame yourself, that cannon wuz a beast." She stood up fiercely staring at him, squeezing the sponge in her hand until it bled fully dry around her feet with filthwater. "I made...a promise to keep them safe. I do NOT break them." "You didn't, you did all you could considering-" "ENOUGH! I do not need your platitudes to comfort me, these are my brothers and sisters and I will do everything I can to keep them safe, do NOT think otherwise." "Ah hear you. You think ah bought Cyrus out of sum store, ah found this guy broken in pieces dumped on thuh side of thuh road. You don't got to tell me about brothers an' sisters." "What?" "Here, take a look." Navarro walked closer to where Cyrus stood as Roy bade him to lift his wings out from his black-scarred sides. At first they appeared to be perfectly covered in steel, slowly retracting them back against his body before Roy gently lifted the steel tips off from the tip of the wings. Half of his entire wing came off in one solid contracted form leaving nothing but sheer bone beneath the feathers left horribly exposed, the wings lifting slightly to show a more gruesome look at where the skin had sealed itself shut. The moogle clasped a hand over her mouth with shock, gasping: "Hoh...g-gods he...he has no wings, I-" "Yup. Sumbody tore 'em right off, just clipped his wings off an' dumped him right out on thuh side of thuh road. But ah fixed him, got sum replacements even from a guy down in Rozarria whilst ah wuz lookin' for business. At first it wuz hard for both of us so ah said 'fuckit, why don't you an' me go prove everybody who's best' an'...so we did, righ' Cyrus?!" "Kwehhh!" "See?!" "You...goodness, kupo. And to think I never even noticed whilst you were out at that tournament, you...you were incredible with your steed." "Whut?"

She walked up closer towards him now turning sincere with a fond glimmer in her look, taking her mind off briefly from the tragedy behind her. "I...I have never seen such a close and powerful partnership between rider and steed until your display together. Not only in the joust tournament but also the way you fought those other riders, all without hurting a single chocobo with such precision of his wingtips. Your poise, your grace, such...diligence of the steed working perfectly together in harmony I-i-i...I have never seen in my whole life anyone as skilled as you handling a chocobo." "Hehe...wow, you serious? Um...th-thanks ah mean, me an' Cyrus are real tight lahk ah said." "Whatever you two have is beyond anything I have seen, it's almost as if he perfectly understands you...every word he hangs onto." "Well...whut can ah say? Ahm just good with animals, lahk ah can read their minds." He grinned at this knowing truly his secret, Navarro looking rather curious upon him as she asked with lips licking slightly: "If...I may ask, kupo. How well versed are you in understanding the chocobo?" "Well..you saw me out there so...whut you need?" "The one over there, Luke his name is...can you help me sate his grief? I know that...this sort of tragedy can remain in a beast's sense of mind strongly to which they can never recover from it, I have seen...a few terrible cases of lost beasts simply wandering in bereavement, and I won't let that happen to him, kupo. Can you help me...please?" "...sure, ahll see whut ah can do." "Thank you." Checking that his steed was alright first, he walked over to where Luke sat on his own roosting with legs tucked underneath his body. He knew that chocobos were flighty beasts of nature and so made his approach obvious allowing him plenty of time to react. "Hey...hey you in thuh corner...Luke righ'?" The red-maned chocobo did not respond but he heard him quite distinctly as he walked more closely. "Lissen...ah saw whut happened to your brother. Ahm sorry. Thuh worst thing in thuh world that can happen is losin' yer own family, 'specially if they're all you've ever known. Trust me, ah lost family too, ah know whut you're going through. But...ah realised after a long, looong tahm, that if you keep holdin' that anger in your heart, you start thinkin' to it over an' over an' all you can do is focus on sheer hatred...then that's never gonna give you a life you ever want. Thuh first few weeks are gonna be tough, an' they hurt, an' yer gonna feel cold an' lonely...but you got one thing ah didn't have when it happened. Friends all around you." He sat next to the short-haired steed who looked up miserably upon him, the raptor pointing out over to the rest of the group as well as Navarro, Fayne and Baldwin who just joined in on the conversation. "All these people here, they're all your friends. They're always wit' you, she always takes care of you, an' those two brothers over there, well...ah think you an' them got a lot more in common than you ever think. You're not alone, Luke. Your brother wouldn't want you to be alone, wouldn't he?" The chocobo put his head down softly into the hay sighing bitterly as Roy sighed with the shake of his head. He decided best not to push things too much and slowly got up to leave him adding: "Ahll let you be...but...think on this for me...if your brother wuz here, an' you were thuh one that died...would you want him to be sittin' here in remorse not feelin' good ever again just to punish himself? You are not alone. Now look after yourself." He walked away calmly with apologetic look on him, shrugging slightly to show that it was everything he could without further hurting Luke's psyche. Baldwin turned towards Fayne who asked Navarro, or at least tried to before she shook his head at him. He said nothing and slowly walked up towards his room along with his brother beside him, feeling somewhat at a loss for words unable to speak with his heart weighing down and gently gulping back the lump in his throat. Roy decided to stay and clean up the rest of the chocobos mainly to be certain that Luke would start coping, with Navarro staying beside him. "Thank you...kupo." "S'no problem," replied Roy. "Everybody got their own tragedies." "I will not ask on yours." "Thanks, ahm tired of tellin' that story." "Agreed, some stories need not be retread over." "Amen to that."

At the opposite end of the ship there was another emotional scene. The raptor FG stood staring towards Kruz who had stomped his way over to the desk, flinging his coat of Rabanastre off as it landed upon the floor showing his lean brown body before dropping himself on his seat. The sunset framed behind him, bathing the entire cabin within warm smouldering tones of amber as if about to set alight. A brief look through a partly-open drawer beside him revealed the Song of Souls staring at him briefly, mocking him from where he stashed it after collecting it from the cathedral. Slowly he began unscrewing his left fake hand and hurled it towards FG's feet, a deep sigh coming from him across the room as the kremling propped his head up on his sole remaining hand looking briefly at his close friend, before replying: "Well, go on then." "Hm?" "Come on, spit it out, you obviously have sum problem with me James so don't fuck about." "...alright." The raptor stepped forwards with hands behind his back trying to compose himself with a cool sense of peace. "I...I know that you must be-" "Don't." Kruz glared at him potently from his left eye burning into his skull. "Don't. Patronise me, just say it." "Alright fine, fuck it, are you upset about me not being in love with you?" "...I know that's not fair on you." "Not answering the question." "You couldn't just let me act it out, you couldn't just be stupid ENOUGH that you could have let it be." "I'm not the one who just screamed his heart out to a fucking dinner hall full of people for an act!" "And that's all it wuz, an act!" "No. No it wasn't, I know you Kruz, you slipped out of your Ivalician and you opened your heart, I know you probably didn't mean to but you did and now this is happening." "Why can't you just be happy that we got whut we wanted an' got out of there without anyone knowing who we were?! We had a good mission, a great time, a wild chase and now this stupid sob story following up after it!" "It's gonna happen either way, Navarro lost one of her chocobos." "Fuckin' birds I don't give a shit about them!" "HEY!" James stood forwards snarling with a pointed finger at the kremling. "She's my friend they fucking matter to her so DON'T start on her!" "Ohohoho you understand whut SHE wants...but you're completely blind to whut I wanted." "I'm not blind Kruz. I've known for at least a few months that you wanted me to be with you and I know that you're disappointed and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I have someone I care about, someone I fell in love with over you, I wish you weren't feeling this! You're like one of the best friends I ever had, you're the closest I ever had in all my adventures to being a...soulmate of some sort!" "Stop. Usin' my words. Look..." The kremling leaned forwards as he placed his hand on the desk. "I'm not proud of whut I said, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry fer whut I said, that wuz disrespectful to you, and also to...to-" "Koopin." "Yes, him. You made your choice, I mean it doesn't matter that I spent the last seven years searchin' fer you or the fact that I...lost everything the day you left, and I know that wuzn't yer fault but...f-fuck." His eyes began to glisten as he turned away proudly, sneering at himself brusquely as he wiped his eyes off. "I went through it all in my head, the whole meetin' up again, seein' you, the dumb fuckin' song I had when you first saw me again, all the little things we would talk about and of COURSE I went through in my head whut would happen if...you had already met someone. And I wuz prepared fer that, I meant to...but...I just wuzn't prepared as much as I thought I would...and now you got this fuckin' demon inside of you an' I dunno how long you got to live an' the fact I fucking TRIED to help you! I tried to help you, I wanted to be the bigger man about it, I wanted to be all well-wishing an' help you out cuz yer my closest friend that's still alive, except you might DIE in a fucking year and I can't do SHIT to help you about it, don't you think I feel ashamed enough already?!" Bitterly on the edge of tears he sniffed them back harshly shaking in his fist looking desperate and afraid as James felt a resignation come to him. He had been with the demon so long he almost forgot about all its particulates including its supposed death sentence to come within a year as he leaned his head forwards to breathe into his hands. "I know...I...Kruz...I really appreciate all you've done for me. I know that...things kinda look grim for me right now, but really there's nothing at all new about this situation, I'm glad I know now." "Whut?!" "Yeah. That means I know how long I've got until we can fix this, Mother Mariel has it all sorted she can figure something out. There's a whole year just waiting for us two, I've been down in darkness and miserable for long enough, I don't wanna drop into this again. If I don't just keep walking I'm not going to find anything that helps me. And you've done a lot for me too, look you have nothing to feel bad about. I'm very honoured about your feelings for me and I still want to be your friend...but...don't do that kind of thing ever again okay? It makes me feel like shit as much as you do."

Kruz sighed in turn with a simple shake of his head leaning back against his seat, feeling relief come through him towards the end of the argument. He was tired more than usual, stressed beyond belief but at the very least accepting enough to let things be. "F-fine...fine I...I know it does I just...wuzn't thinkin' I'm sorry." "Heh...yeah you better be." The raptor walked forwards with a gentle punch on the kremling's arm as he grinned back at him. "I managed to kick K. Rool's ass I can kick your ass too." "Khhah! Last I remember the Kongs beat his ass and not you, you just sorta slapped it around all over the place like a wet fish." "Slapped him enough, right over his big fucking racist ass." "Alright that's enough," said Kruz warning him. "What, you mad because you weren't there to see it?! I'm not the one who got punched in the chest so hard that you missed out on all the fun shanking his fucking belly open-" "That's enough!" "Watching this crazy shitfuck talking away about his great superior empire ruined and all he did was laugh and spit on me like he thought I was some inferior thing, racist stupid asshole-" "STOP IT!" Slamming his fist into the desk he stood up violently with a start towards FG, staring with a potent twitch in his left eye venomously as tears came flowing down from his cheeks. "STOP CALLING HIM THAT, YOU DIDN'T KNOW HIM LIKE I DID! HE'S PROBABLY DEAD BY NOW SO JUST LEAVE IT ALRIGHT!?! F-FUCK!" James leaned back somewhat betrayed and frustrated, throwing his hands up in the air and feeling angrier at everyone himself. Kruz however was covering his face with most deepened shame, heading further into the abyss as he slumped back in his seat. "...what the hell." "What?!" "What...the FUCKING HELL Kruz! I thought we were getting over this now you suddenly fly at me for something else!? What, can I not talk about ANYTHING with you?!" "I'm...I'm sorry alright, I just don't like to talk about...things, James, I wanna enjoy myself with the future we have, not the past we once had. You understand me?" "Kruz." The raptor stared at him sternly with his hand on the desk. "You know me. I trust you, you can't just hold something back from me now if you're going to get all upset about something I need to know WHAT is wrong. If I said something to upset you then tell me, I'll understand, let's not do this fucking 'further down the line' bullshit constantly and keep wasting everybody's time, we might as well just get it over and done with and then we can start having that future together as friends, okay?!" "I don't want to." "Tough shit...look, I'll tell you about my problems if I'm having any because I trust you enough to open up to you, plus you already know about my demon I got worse shit to handle so why don't you trust me?" "Alright FINE! Fine, you-you wanna know?! You wanna do this now, we haven't even been back after this mission for more than TWO MINUTES and already you wanna do this?!" "Yes, because you're my friend and I clearly upset you, and now I wanna know why so I can say I'm sorry. Is it something to do with K. Rool? Cuz everytime I try to bring him up you always shut me down so what is it?!" Kruz looked to one side towards the captain's hat hanging on the coatrack nailed to the wall. He pressed two fingers to his forehead leaning against them, shaking his head softly as if trying to push it all away from him before submitting. "...you didn't know K. Rool like I did."

The kremling sighed deeply into his hand struggling to reminisce. "I wuz...I washed up on the shore as a hatchlin'...never knew my family, musta been about...fuck I got no idea, I...I actually don't know how old I wuz, I always felt like I wuz older than I actually wuz so, you know just...sorta assumed I wuz maybe two or sumthin' but...I don't really know how old I am." "Really?" asked FG. "Yeah, I mean since we're gettin' it all out there I got no idea if I'm thirty-six or maybe even your age but...they all guessed I wuz probably from some other island with no family or nuthin', so I got picked up an' raised by the theatre group. They taught me everythin' I knew, how to walk, how to speak, how to dance...they were my family. K. Rool wuz my mentor, back then in his younger days. He wuz everythin' to me. He found me on the shore before anyone else, back before he made captain...younger days. He became captain around when I became fourteen, everybody loved him." "Why'd...everybody love him so much?" "Big-heart, theatrical, built the whole damn park fer us, made deals with the Zingers so we had honey, we all loved him...he wuz the closest thing I had to a father. Khheh, fuck he practically wuz, not like I had nobody else. I remember one time I asked him 'captain, can I be your son?' And he replied 'my dear boy...you are all my sweet sons.' You..." Kruz began to weep bitterly into his fist. "You didn't know him, like I did...you only saw the worst of him, when that damn island showed up. He'd been...when I first knew him he wuz just big loud an' proud, he took over from the last captain cuz we all got sick of him. He...the last one wuz a cruel psychotic tyrant, you met his ghost way back on the island, remember that old mansion we went through with the minecart, the barrels hangin' above us all painted up with blood? That big ghost, the skeleton." James cast his mind back fervently trying to recollect all he had gone through on the isle. He nodded softly as Kruz explained: "K. Rool murdered him, killed him straight up in a swordfight, fought to rule over all of us so he could make us happy. The guy before him wuz...I don' know what he wuz like really, I don' remember that much cuz I wuz little but I remember nobody wanted him." "Why?" asked FG. "Cuz the last one treated us badly! He wuz the one that crashed all those ships, killed the crew on all of 'em, the caldera, the swamp, that wuzn't K. Rool! That was old stuff, that was the previous captain!" "But...wait, no, you...you told me K. Rool did all that." "I know...I...I guess I wuz just bitter by that point an' wanted everythin' on him, wanted to blame him fer everythin' an' you went all the way up with it cuz you only ever saw him as this cruel insane bastard...just like the last captain before him."

The kremling struggled with both arms, trying to tense both of them up forgetting he had the one hand as he pressed his steel stump to the side of his head. "Around the time you showed up...maybe a few months before, his health had been...steadily goin' worse. The eye wuz the first clue, he didn't listen to the doctors, nor the mystics on our island...they all prophesied that 'when blood shall run through the eye of this captain, the madness shall take him...and if he did not relinquish his title then, a great tragedy would befall us'." "Madness?" "But he thought he could cheat the prophecy, so he made himself king...not sure why, he wuz already captain but it only got worse. King on the days when madness got stronger, trickin' it always but he went so insane he always forgot himself...made himself captain still but we tolerated it because he wuz still our good captain an' he treated us right...treated us fairly...until that island showed up, whilst our island drifted over across the sea untethered by anything." "The Kong island?" "He became obsessed with it when that showed up, wanted it...NEEDED it, said it wuz the perfect place fer us, called it a tropical paradise, a home away from home, snuck right in an' started buildin' factories on the back of it, tearin' apart the whole place just to make his own utopia...course the Kongs beat his ass at every turn an' he hated them fer it. He wuz never a racist like you knew him, he wuzn't like that before he...he just hated those apes so much because they stopped him...he let that hate take him an' started just..." He stared straight into James' eyes, his own burning red rings around them as he struggled to contain his tears with shaking voice. "I...h-h-hhhad to watch, my own mentor, the one who raised me, the one I wanted to be my father slowly turn bitter an' twisted with his own ins-sane madness, an' he wuz too fuckin' arrogant to see it." "...you told me he had that eye since birth." "I KNOW I DID!" shouted Kruz. "I LIED OKAY?! I LIED TO YOU, I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FIND OUT THE WHOLE DAMN THING I WANTED YOU TO LOVE HIM! ...I wanted to love him...he wuz still my f-f-fuckin' dad, I wanted to be his son I WANTED TO BE LIKE HIM! I LOVED HIM! Right until he sabotaged the ship an' killed all my friends...almost all of 'em...all because he wuz too..." He broke down completely, sobbing into his arms crossed beneath him as James headed round the desk quickly to embrace him, softly cradling him back and forth as he shared that feeling of shame in turn. "Kruz...I'm...I'm sorry I...I never knew, I just...I didn't realise." "N-no...you...I jus', didn' wanna tell you everythin' I jus' wanted to bury it all back in...I hated him...I despised him when he...s-started killin' us, ruined the ship, destroyed all his crew without even carin', there wuz no reason fer it. I didn' wanna hate him...but he kept givin' me every reason to fer the last nine months I'd known him...I jus' started givin' up on him...that's...that's why..." Kruz turned his head towards FG with tearstruck shining cheeks, asking: "I wanted you to hate him as much as possible, so I fed you all those lies...all that, the ships, the eye, the eye's part of this stupid prophecy it's all bullshit but it came true...h-hhhh...h-hhhoh gods James...I'm sorry...I'm s-so sorry...I couldn't bring myself to hate him so I...made you hate him for me, made you hate him because I couldn't do it...I thought you could stop him an' you almost did." "You...you really lied to me? Just to get your revenge on him?" "N-not...revenge just...I just wanted you to stop him. Stop him from turnin' even...you ever seen someone you love, someone you always looked up to...turn slowly into a monster? I did. I didn't want to see him become a monster." It was this that James felt his heart pierced much deeper than ever before in recent years, tears finally come up through to the surface as he hugged Kruz tightly against his shoulder. "I have...I have seen...ohh god...oh god Kruz I...I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I wish-" "I-it's...fine...it's all gone anyway, doesn't matter whether I lied to you or not. Whut's the point when you already hate him fer every other reason he caused himself, I didn't need to help you fer it...but I wanted to. But he wuz still someone I loved, someone who raised me so...please." He brought James down towards his eye level and stared deeply into his with voice still shaking. "D-don't...talk about him anymore just, good or bad please don't...talk about him anymore. I want-...I want to remember him the way I used to, like the way I've always known him so just...please, let me-" "Alright. I...I promise, I won't say another word." "Th-...th-thank you."

The two slowly embraced each other, hugging tightly with soft moans of relief as they made their way off to bed. Normally it was too early but they did not care, a weight having been lifted from their hearts as they slept somewhat more peacefully from the exhaustion of their tears. Very little else was said that day by the rest of the crew as the night soon passed, the crews switched over on duty and so a new day would come, awakening as Kruz got up early deciding to have a little special something. He headed to the top deck with his cloak, hook and K. Rool's hat to where Michelle stood at the wheel, the red-cloaked nu-mou diligently not falling asleep despite her yawn. "UUUUAAAAHHHH...mornin' captain!" "Morning Michelle. Ready to go to bed?" "Absolutely captain." "Take off and sleep, I'll take over for this ride here on in." "Thank you captain. Good night sir." With a prompt salute she headed off back to her bed for a well-deserved sleep after an all-night driving session on the wheel. Kruz buzzed onto the intercom to navigation. "Rzepka, are you there?!" "Sszhtill asszhleep captain," said one of the assistants, "I'm here if you need anything." "Oh...alright, well uh what's your name coxswain?" "Korsszhin." "Set sail for Bhujerba Korshin, we're going to do something special for our people." "Aye aye sszhir!" Turning the ship slowly towards the southeast, the morning sky welcomed him as he saw the firestreaked horizon with the sun well beneath it. It would not take long from their current position as they managed to reach it around noon with the sun at its zenith, the crew offloading heartily as the captain began to make arrangements. Tennyson he sent to the guildmaster's office in order to find contracts they could arrange for more profit, whilst Cid he sent off elsewhere to make sure that the Broken Petal did not need any repairs or other upkeep. Navarro along with Roy and Dahlia went to the chocobo stables in Bhujerba in order to give them a bit of fresh air, whilst James agreed that considering what had happened it was best to keep close with their steeds with nothing else to do. The city was as open and free as always with high altitudes giving everyone a slightly whimsical lightheadedness that let them relax a little better as they all tended to their own steeds. The stables were heavenly on Bhujerba, giving a large roaming field for all chocobos to enjoy themselves with spongy grass and grade-A food to keep them feeling perkier than ever. Luke kept sombre but Fayne and Baldwin stuck to him never letting a moment's sorrow kept still in his heart as they brushed him down, talked with him and generally kept him company. The cleric kept close especially upon his mourning prayer to try and help sate the torment in Luke's heart stirring constantly. In truth he found himself feeling guilty for not being there to have fought alongside his steed, even if he himself was not particularly sturdy a fighter. Navarro sat upon the fence gazing upon them whilst next to Dahlia and Roy, asking the utahraptor: "The only thing good about all our escapades is it distracts from the traumatic discovery of both you and James' origins, kupo." "Along with Kruz," added Roy, "look ahm sorry about all this, ah guess it wuz maybe too soon to have told you, but ah know yer not stupid you woulda figured out sooner or later." "Frankly I am trying not to remember what you showed me." "I can't forget," said Dahlia softly, "even if I wanted to, I'm just...amazed and frankly overwhelmed that there's such a...world beyond ours." "But in the end, what good is it kupo?" "What?" "If we cannot go to this world, then what is the point of even worrying about it? That is why I do not care enough to let my mind be so concerned about it, just crumple it and throw it away like an unwanted receipt." "Are you not the least bit curious? Scientifically even?!" "Academically speaking I am most bewildered and...needless to say quite shocked...but, personally speaking I realise that there is no use concerning about it, kupo." "That's not healthy," replied Roy, "you can't just keep that shit bottled up inside you." "It's called being controlled." "Well you control that too much an' you start repressin' it, that ain't good for you." "He's right Navarro," said the nu-mou, "I would not want you to shut down either, that would cause an impedence!" "I know perfectly well the dangers of it."

Navarro said this as she hopped off the fence, feeling more neutral than ever before for the sake of her sanity. "Right now I would like to know what details you and James have uncovered inside Hopkins' record book." "Oh!" began Roy. "Righ' shit sorry it's been uh, pretty hectic after the escape, plus we got more important stuff to deal with lahk Luke over there." "Fayne and Baldwin can handle him, they understand loss of family. I appreciate you again for speaking to him." "S'alright, no biggie." "I am most curious though, for someone of another world apparently, you seem to connect most swiftly with that of chocobos." "Ah got a...heh, well...since we're in a world of magic ah suppose ah can tell you. This ring righ' here?" He showed off one of two rings on his left hand, the white band of bone carving resembling that of a snake twisting around his finger. "Gives me thuh power to talk to animals...ah know that's weird." "OH," said Dahlia, "are you a beastmaster then?!" "Whuh?" "Your ability to talk to animals, can that be the power of a beastmaster?" "Don't be absurd," said Navarro, "communicating with animals requires much more complex understanding than just a linguistic construct, kupo. There are certain forms of body language, control, dominance, respecting boundaries, one does not simply talk to chocobos." "You'd be surprised," said Roy smiling, "ah mean, long as you got thuh gift with animals, you got sumthin' close enough." "Close. But not actually, kupo." "Well ah wuz able to communicate with Cyrus perfectly well back in that tournament, an' tell Luke enough to try an' help him out of his bad funk, you wan' me to give you another test?" "Hm. Very well, go to each of our mounts and ask them what they think of us." "Alrigh'." He walked off promptly to where each of them were with Dahlia smirking at such a gift as she turned towards the moogle, currently sitting down at the lowest fence's point. "Why are you so unbelieving, Navarro?" "Because I am not a fool, kupo." "Isn't arrogance not a fool as well?" "Do you think I am?" "I think you might be a little...harsh of late. You seemed very upset more than most of us when James revealed his...origins." "Hmmm...our relationship is...strange at best." "How did you meet, if I may ask?" "He appeared out of nowhere amidst the ruins of a mountain cliff, whilst I was searching for a monstrous beast to slay for a bounty kupo. In truth, he told me of his origins but I did not believe him thinking he was just simply delusional, and the only reason I travelled with him was thinking I could offload him somewhere since he promised me that...if he were to finish his objective of finding a portal to take him back 'home'...then he would give me full clan rights and I would finally have what I need." "So...you went along with him because he promised you that he'd make you become clan leader?" "Correct, kupo." "...he...actually plans on leaving?" "Apparently. He has not given up on this even with all of his...problems." "Oh." The nu-mou gently rubbed her fingers together and moved closer towards Navarro. "That's...that's unfortunate, I mean...I like him, he's not a terrible person he's quite nice." "He may be a fool sometimes," said Navarro, "but he has his heart in the right place. Cursed as it may be." "We should help him at the very least." "He is my leader, I will not break that duty to him, kupo." "I know you won't."

She smiled softly at the moogle knowingly as she nodded back in turn. Eventually Roy came back with a grin on his face swaggering playfully up to them. "Hoooooooooo you would not believe the beak on Cadbury." "Hmm?!" "That dude is one fuckin' RUDE bird ah mean da-hamn." "I see, kupo. And what did our steeds say?" "Well first off, Lightnin' respects you definitely, she knows that you an' her are real cool an' basically 'thuh real leaders' of thuh group, bein' thuh most experienced. She don' care much about her other posse other than that she gotta work with them, but she wanna let Luke have his space at thuh very least an' appreciates sum downtahm. She also says that she understands you more deeply than anyone else, sumthin' about sharin' hearts." Navarro nodded knowing this with her arms crossed as she let him continue. "Rinoa...well she is one bubbly character, she LOVES you to pieces Dahlia." "R-really?!" asked the nu-mou shyly. "Aw yeah, you two are, well, she's all excitable an' though you don't say much alongside her she really lahks you, but she does kinda worry that you maybe sorta clam up too easy, sorta wanna maybe pull you out of your shell an' let thuh real power come through you. She said you got a...certain sumthin' dormant inside of you jus' waitin' to come out." "Oh...I-i-i see...that's interesting." "An' Cadbury...hohohooooo man, ah am NOT gonna repeat half thuh things he said to me." "Why is that?" asked the moogle. "Because he is one filthy-ass chocobo lahk holy shit he trash-talkin' everybody! He trash-talk on you bein' so damn cold, he trash-talk on thuh brothers cuz they all jus' idiots fightin' with each other, he trash-talk on Lightnin' being thuh coldest damn bitch he ever knew, not gonna talk on Luke though cuz he went through sum bad stuff so he alrigh', an' he got no problem with Dahlia cuz she's really cool an' smells nice an' always sneaks a little extra mimett green for him." "WH-what?!" cried Dahlia. "H-how did you...how did you know that?!" "Cadbury told me!" "I-i never told...anyone about that, he really loves mimett greens so I give him a little extra...I hope you're not angry Navarro." "No," said Rocino, "I am not. Now that is interesting, kupo." Roy chuckled simply enjoying showing off his talent, before adding: "He don't mind FG though, sure he trash-talks thuh hell outta him as this dumb scaly ass always fightin' him down an' playtussling lahk a brother but he alrigh' with him, he understands him. Said they got real rocky when they first come out but then he started sayin' 'yanno whut he's cool, he understands whut ah feel plus he actually wanna get his beak into sumthin' bad an' fuck up them zaghnals'. Dude REALLY fuckin' hates zaghnals, lahk holy shit he is lahk super-racist on 'em." "Zaghnals?" "Yeah, dude got issues, but anyway that's all your peeps, baby bird." "Don't...c-c-call me that." "S-sorry, uh...Navarro." "Yes...kupo." A blush came to her cheeks briefly as Dahlia made a gasp of silence at the cutest expression on her face, keeping her gaze turned on the instant the moogle glared at her sharply before she added: "Do you and James ever have plans to join a circus?" "Hmhmhahaha, ah dunno, not unless we got another plan to disguise in. You have to admit, it wuz funny havin' FG dressed as thuh girl." "I swear to god." James came up behind him in that moment sternly looking at Roy's back. "This is NOT something I plan on doing regularly, you dress up ONE TIME in a costume for a favour and it is EVERYTHING about you." "Pfffffthhhahahaha, yanno you never did tell me that story." "What story?!" asked Dahlia. "N-NO YOU DON'T!" cried FG. "I'm stopping this right now, I've got no time for this, we are going to do something else." "I agree," said the moogle, "like that of our spoils from Mrs. Hopkins." "Oh...right, that well, let's get Fayne and Baldwin in first, and Kruz." "Why Kruz? He is not part of our group." "Neither is Roy but you let him in." "...fair point, Mr. MacGregor-" "Uhh Roy," he stated, "just please, Mr. MacGregor wuz mah father." "Roy...you are not part of our group, so I must ask that you-" "Woah woah woah woah woah, ah did this stuff for you, ahm entitled to know whut you three are up to." "No, you are not." "Actually he is," said FG, "because he helped us get in and if it wasn't for Roy then we would never have gotten anywhere near in the first place." "What?! James, he is not of our group!" "Neither was Kruz and yet YOU let him oversee the entire plan and also be our main transport across Ivalice so don't be a hypocrite, Navarro." "...fine. Fair enough, I concede, my apologies Roy." "S'alright," said the utahraptor shrugging. "Ah don' wanna get in thuh way of clan politics." "We shall have our conference soon, where shall we have it?" "Weeeelllll." James brought up a finger of innovation pointing to the very sky. "Kruz has told me that I have to gather all of you around sunset for a very special something he has planned as sort of a make-up gift to apologise for all the events that's been happening." "What...sort of something, kupo?" "Juuuuust a little special something, I don't know what it is but he wants us to meet at the Kaff Terrace outside some place he called the Pearly Necklace." "Oh what a lovely name," replied Dahlia innocently, "is that a jewellery store perhaps?" "...no, it's...actually I don't know what it is but we'll soon see around sunset so bring yourselves to it when you're ready." "Alright."

Sunset soon came, as Clan Koridai made their way down to the Kaff Terrace on the lower-east side of Bhujerba. A good distance from the Lhusu Mines entrance, the whole district was filled with miners and common workers who were the heart and soul of Bhujerba, as well as primary maintainers of its deep industry in rich lucrative magicite. The houses even in this area were splendid-looking of old sandstone architecture and wide homely rooms creating a true sense of equality amongst living standards between the working class and the noble elite. The Pearly Necklace was a large raucous-looking place, bigger than the Equestrian resembling more of a boarding house with separate rooms for different parties to drink in. The main floor itself was the central bar to the right of the door, a long rectangular area interlaced with tables as well as a turning staircase against the wall leading to the upper floors where people could purchase a room to sleep in. The doors beneath the stairs lead to other rooms for private discussions or smaller engagement parties. But the moment they walked in there came a huge cheer. "SURPRIIIIIIIIIIISE!" "WH-WHAT THE-" "THERE HE IIIIIIIIS MY SPECIAL PAL!" Kruz stood wide open with arms spread in front a teeming crowd of fifty-six people from the Broken Petal, moogles and bangaas nestling with nu-mou and humes literally from wall to wall. The horde was frightening at first, and nowhere near timid in starting up with a blast of music someplace else, a hired small band of moogles and bangaas on a central stage playing some wild drums and trumpets, accompanied by a strange organ with a most whimsical revelry. All they could see was nothing but wild colourful clothes and blaring excitement as Kruz shouted: "COME RIGHT ON IN REX!" "Wh-what the hell's-" "CUMMOOOOOOOON!" Kruz grabbed FG by the wrist and brought him straight towards the bar along with the rest of Clan Koridai who found themselves suddenly seated upon the barstools, the kremling right next to them as James blurted out: "Wh-what's going on, why are we celebrating?!" "Weeeeellll," said Kruz, "I thought we'd all been rather tense after the past mission and what with all that's been happening I thought, why not celebrate ourselves for where we are now, alive and well with friends all around us and just EMBRACE the future! TO OUR FRIENDS!" "TO ALL OUR FRIENDS!" The crowd shouted back as Kruz toasted with a pint of lager and chugged it back, sighing a hot gasp of bliss and a wide smile as they all looked at each other rather odd. James simply shook his head smirking as he punched Kruz in the arm. "You faggot." "KHHAH, look at the pot calling the kettle black!" "You're just looking for an excuse to have a big-ass party and get everybody drunk, aren't you?" "...yeeeees, and?" "...well I mean that's as good as any excuse, guys let's have some fun!" "Really?!" asked Dahlia. "B-but this is all so sudden, I-" "Oh come on Dahlia!" cried Baldwin already with pint in hand. "Grab a drink an' let your hair down, we never had a party like thisszh in all our travelsszh, we earned thisszh!" "I...I-i-i'm not good at parties, I-" "Baldwin isszh right," said Fayne, "and that isszh rare of me to sszhay." "Heeey!" started Baldwin. "But I know what Kruzzzh isszh trying to do, and I think that...after a lot of sszhtartling revelasszhionsszh over the passzht month or two, what with...Jamesszh' origin, Mother Mariel and our current misszhion, I think that our collective mindsszh would do good in turning off...for the sszhake of our mental health." "Much as I hate to say it," added Navarro, "I also agree with Baldwin and Kruz, kupo. A little elbow grease in the gears can help the mind process everything much easier for the next day." "But not TOO much grease," replied Roy, "cuz otherwise all thuh gears just slip out an' fall all over thuh place lahk a chocobo in Pisces." "KUHAHAHA!" Everyone turned towards Navarro startled by her sudden laugh, a wily chortle kept shut by a hand over her mouth in embarrassment as James asked: "Wh-what the...wow um, was it that funny?" "HMHM-HEM!" coughed Navarro stifling her mirth. "Y-yes...Loco weed which...c-causes chocobos to turn inebriated, grows during Pisce-hees..." "Okay I have never heard you laugh like that, not ever, Roy are you a wizard?!" "Maybe!?" cried the black raptor. "Ah dunno, wuz makin' a joke, lahk ah said we can grease up our ol' gears but not too much." "Fuck that GREASSZHE ME UP!" shouted Baldwin. "BARKEEP, BRING USSZH ALL A ROUND OF BHUJERBAN MADHU!" "HAH, now THAT'S whut ah lahk to hear, RACK 'EM UP!"

Finding no reason to not enjoy themselves without sounding miserable, the group simply accepted and stuck right in with the famous drink of Bhujerba itself, a violently spicy brew that had at least three of them gasping for breath. But the rush they got to their heads was just the start of their most wild night in unison. Dancing went on all throughout the evening from waltzes to conga lines around the room, occasionally having other people not involved with the party coming in and out overwhelmed by festivity, helplessly joining in upon this madness. The band kept on playing until the room started rocking, loud and proud trumpets interlaced with bizarre-sounding drums and above all else the strange maddening organ that somehow mimicked that of a singing voice, albeit one in very odd pitch of squeaking tones that managed to compose everything altogether. Baldwin danced his heart out, sweeping the floor with his moves by the swish of his tail, whilst Dahlia ended up dancing with Cid in a bootybumping beat that smacked their hips against each other after she went a little over her limit. Even the more serious members of Kruz's people got involved such as Tennyson dancing dramatically along with Michelle the navigator nu-mou, spinning each other out into a paso doble of surprising passion. Grabbing her by the back, he pulled her into a long drawn-out walk across the room that ended with a run-off spin off her feet, pirouetting her out along the end of his arm before pulling her close back in. The blush matched her red clothing exceedingly well as Tennyson grinned from his bold chiselled features at least a foot above her. The rest of the crew would make archways for people to dance through, grabbing whoever was opposite of them and twirling through the gates formed by other people's arms. Laughter and joy rose to the ceiling, the whole house pumping to the beat as Roy danced off with Navarro who thankfully had managed to exceed herself enough to just lose to the music. The raptor towering over her by almost three feet made attempts to tapdance, not particularly well having not the agility of the moogle, who clearly exceeded him in its footwork as her large rabbit feet slapped beautifully upon the wooden floor. Somehow able to synchronise to the beat, her feet tapdanced perfectly to the rhythm as Roy tried to copy her, their arms swinging over in unison against each other. James and Kruz spun themselves out into a marvellous waltz, whistling smiles upon their faces as they whirled together and hopped in unison across the room. Clasping chests against each other, they step-step-turned almost with one mind between them before Kruz spun him right out onto the edge of his right hand, before pulling James right back in and gladly dipping him straight down to the floor. The suddenness of inertia had all the blood rush to the raptor's head who simply started laughing derisively from blind drunken joy. In an even more sudden twist, he threw James across the floor towards Roy who grabbed him in a dip by accident, the brown raptor splayed over his arms as he cackled even more beside him. Roy simply could not stop himself as he laughed in turn and pulled back up FG before they danced off with rosy cheeks of inebriation, arms swinging along with their hips as they found their rhythm synchronising as one. Fayne was in the midst of a beer game involving naming all the Occuria after one big sip of ale, without hiccuping and failing constantly much to the great laughter of his fellow players. Kruz then grabbed him straight out the game and spun him ruthlessly fast, sending a hot blush through the bishop's cheeks as he had no idea what to do before the kremling gladly waltzed away the room with him. Baldwin started laughing, pointing at him from the side as the bishop desperately tried to keep up, stumbling and hobbling his way around and panicking but Kruz helped him round. The kremling even lifted up his left foot and spun him round on his right false foot, the cleric turning even more frightened but Kruz kept him straight balanced and slowly pulled back away from him. Encouraging him to let his left leg spin out, the kremling suddenly managed to teach Fayne how to pirouette on the spot for a good six turns with his robe out fully twirling like a dress. Giggling maddeningly from nervous excitement, he stopped spinning eventually as Kruz caught him before he fell, another full dip that left Fayne both sick and reeling with a crumpling blush on his cheeks more than alcohol should make. The two stumbled their way over towards the bar to help Fayne clear his head, as the night went on in a whirlwind of dance and drink before daylight would soon be met.

Morning soon came, the sounds of Bhujerban life not even rousing itself yet as Dahlia was first to wake up out of all the Clan Koridai group, finding herself oddly sleeping by herself in her own room back on the Broken Petal ship. And yet she saw no sign of James in the room she shared with him as she slowly got up out of bed, her head throbbing with dehydration as she walked zombie-like to the nearby bathroom and drank down some of the water from the sink fuelling magicite of pure clean H2O. Refreshing herself slightly, the halls being normally quite vocal were now deathly silent which terrified her, but only briefly as she reassured herself seeing there were people still moving about on the top deck in the midst of early morn. A light fog gently cradled the ship which still hovered in the dock, the nu-mou wandering over to where Navarro slept in her room nearby as she gingerly tapped on the door, to prevent headaches burning into the moogle's cranium as she asked whilst still in a state of drowsy: "Navarro? Navaaaaaarro? Are you alright? Morning's come Navarro, I-EEEEH!" "WHUHHH!" The door opened to reveal not a moogle but Roy's face staring down at the nu-mou shocked beyond belief, blue ringed eyes of brown pupils looking startled back at her from within the doorjamb. "Wh-what are you-...this is Navarro's room, what are you doing in there!?!" "Uhhh yeah ah know," said Roy, "ah just, well, ah carried her back an'...there wuz a free bed." "Wha-you-ah-I...she let you sleep in the same ROOM!?" "Well, she wuz unconscious an' ah got nowhere else to sleep!" "Nudanymorkupo," murmured a voice behind Roy. "...lahk ah said, she WUZ unconscious, besides where else ahm ah gonna sleep, thuh floor?!" The nu-mou blanched shortly with a look of stricken insult for a brief instant but then remembered herself shaking her head clear, asking: "Wh-wh-whatever! Um...y-y-you...do you know where James is?" "Uhhhhh...lemme think...ah remember Kruz an' him were dancin' thuh night away musta gone with him...ah don' quite-" "WHAT THE?!" Baldwin's voice shrieked from the next room over as he started shouting into awakening: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN' HERE?! YOU-" He suddenly opened his door startled with wild eyes. "WHERE ISSZH FAYNE!?!" "Whuh-ah dunno!" "Isn't he with you?!" asked Dahlia. "NO! GUESSZH WHO'SSZH IN HISSZH BED!" "KEEP IT DOWN FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" cried James from inside Baldwin's room. "Jesus...fuck you're so loud god piece of shit my head hurts..." That answered enough for them as they looked nervously at each other. Roy then felt a light go on in his head though he wished it hadn't. "...oh. That wuzn't James that Kruz danced with, wuz it?" "Wh-what?!" asked Baldwin. "Whaddaya mean?!" "Uhhhhh...you know where Kruz is?" Baldwin stormed off to the captain's cabin instantly across the deck in a faster speed than anyone, bursting through the door or at least trying to before realising it was already locked firmly as he started hammering. "KRUZZZH! KRUUUUUZZZH! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" "KEEP IT DOWN!" shouted Michelle's voice from above. "WHAT!?"

The nu-mou popped up from behind the wheel above the stern part of the ship, seemingly wrapped in blankets and not wearing anything underneath with one of her smooth-furred breasts hanging out promptly by a good C-cup of heavy weight. "Captain needs his beauty's sleep he will awake when he's good and ready!" "BUT, MY BROTHER'SSZH MISSZHING!" "We'll deal with it when we are ready now go get some food or something!" "BUT-" "THAT'S AN ORDER SCRIMP!" shouted a male voice above him. "HUH!?" Suddenly Tennyson's head popped out beside Michelle, also equally naked under the blankets with fine chest hair well-wreathed to his niiples. "Remember you are a passenger on this ship and you will adhere to our standards!" "YOU...YOU ARE ALL USSZHELESSZH, SSZHWEET FARAM OF FUCK!" The monk stomped off back to his room furious and confused, the hume first mate shaking his head as Michelle rolled her eyes. "Gods, after everything we all did with the party just for them." "Some are just not good for mornings," said Tennyson, "you however..." Slowly he kissed along the nu-mou's neck as he groped sweetly upon the exposed nipple tweaking it in his fingers. "EEP, heehehehee! T-Tennyson you-" "Please, you know my name already...and I most enjoyed hearing you scream it very openly like you did last night, my dear Michelle." "H-HOH...g-goodness you...h-hhhhh..." The way his finger plied itself across the teat of her breast was of such sensitive candour that she melted in his grip, pulling back into his embrace as she slowly laid down alongside him. From inside the cabin there would be the sounds of thumping repeatedly upon the ceiling, which in turn would awake Kruz slowly as his eyes drifted open with a groan as he slapped his hand on his head. "Mmmmmnnnnngggghhhh...thassit, no more than three madhus in one night from now on...ehhhh...heh...you good there James?" Turning towards his fellow sleeper, he grinned and sneaked his head under the covers of darkness planting a little kiss to wake him up. He then noticed something was wrong as he felt the snout was a little less broad then he remembered it to be. The kiss remained there for a good bit before he pulled down the covers to see who it was. Fayne was staring dead ahead towards him with a look of shock on his face as Kruz found himself stuck towards his smoother lips not moving or even breathing. There was a little suckling however before he gently pulled back. "Uhhhh...morning-" "A-AAAAH AAAAAH-GUUUH!" Backcrawling himself away until he fell out of bed, Fayne stumbled onto his back before realising he was nude, not even his undershirt on him showing his lean sweating body and genital slit between his legs. Kruz blinked with intrigue before shaking himself clear as he tried to cautiously explain himself. "I...thought you were James, that's...why-I mean I would never-" "NnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNNNGUUUH!" Slowly turning away from him, the bishop began to rock gently back and forth as panic rose up from his body, conflicting interests inside his head as the kremling did his best to calm him. "H-hey, um...don't be worried, that doesn't mean anything, it was an accident!" "Nooooooooooooooooo!?" "Look come on it was...just an accident I swear just because I kissed you doesn't mean you're going to turn gay instan-" "NOOOOOOOOOOOO I CAN TASSZHTE YOUR SSZHALIVA!"

Desperately trying to retract his throat muscles into his neck, Fayne staggered towards the pile of clothing that now contained his robe and hastily grabbed an item from it, a potion that he swigged heartily without swallowing. Feverishly churning the saliva in his mouth, he ran to the window trying to open it with hands flailing before he succeeded, his cheeks bulged straight out before vomiting into the clear blue abyss as it sprayed into the ocean depths thousands of feet below. He almost immediately then closed the window upon hearing the sounds of ruthless thumping from the deck above, along with Michelle screaming: "AAAH! AAAAH GODS AMBROSE! YES! YEEES! _" Shutting the window firmly tight the bishop fell into a hot slump beneath the sill, gasping into his hands as he softly cringed whimpering with a heavy disgust. The kremling could not help but smirk and roll his eyes at the poor sight, chuckling as he briefly rolled out of bed naked as the day he was born. His brown toned muscle sleek in his walk, firm crocodilian tail sweeping behind him as he opened the window himself to greet the morning air happily before instantly remembering what would be heard outside. " GODS YES FUCKING RIDE ME YOU BEAST! " "WOAH-HO KAY forgot about that!" He locked the window once more amidst the constant thumping. "I...did not need to hear that and neither did you Father Fayne." "U-u-u-u-um...I...I-i-i feel...cold." "Well you are on the floor without anything on you, um...let me get your clothes." "Thankyou." Walking over to the pile of clothes discarded hastily in the midst of last night, Kruz handed over all of Fayne's raiments and turned away to allow him some privacy. As the cleric began to swiftly put everything back on him, the captain informed him: "Just so you know, nothing happened between us last night." "P-pardon?!" "Well, considering I thought you were James and that me and James have a rule between us not to get intimate because he wants to be faithful to his boyfriend, it stands to reason that I did not do anything intimate with you last night. So...you can relax, you're not 'infected' with my gayness." "I...I-i wasszh not...um..." "You just swigged a potion and washed our mouth out, look, frankly I'm not going to lie, I'm insulted." "I did not mean-...I-...f-f-forgive me I, it wasszh a sszhpur of the moment I did not mean to-" "Look, I know why you're worried so don't play nice, you woke up in someone else's bed, we had a rough night of fun, let's not ruin this." "No...I...I supposszhe not-you may look now." The kremling turned back towards Fayne seeing him now back in his robe and habit, yet something was oddly amiss. "Wh-where'sszh my sszhtaff?!" "Uh oh." "Wh-where isszh my-...oh no, did I drop it sszhomewhere?! I musszht have left it at the tavern oh GODSSZH I am an idiot!" "I'll have someone go down to the tavern, don't worry I'm sure we'll find it." "H-how did-...thisszh...godsszh Faram forgive me I have committed an atrosszhity to my reputasszhion." "What, nooooo come on, we can keep this all secret! Listen, if you're that worried I'll just say that you passed out, I let you sleep in my bed and I slept on the floor, would that be alright?" "I...n-n-no that...I could not asszhk that of you-" "I understand how worried you are, and I know that...well...you have your brother to think of don't you?" Without his staff Fayne simply flexed hands in a fluster of brief shame before bashfully asking: "W-would that...be alright? I...thank you for taking me back from our raucousszh night but...I-i do not know how we-" "It happens," said Kruz, "don't worry, your secret is safe with me, nothing happened." "B-b-but...but...wh-what if your s-s-sszhaliva-" "Oh come on I can't infect you with that, that's stupid! Look, think about it like this, your brother calls it a 'mental disease' right?" "R-right?" "Sooooo saliva is NOT a mental thing, it's in your mouth not your brain come on you're a BISHOP for fuck's sake you're smarter than this! I expect this from some thug on the street but NOT you the prelate of Lea Monde use some fucking sense in your head and stop being so paranoid!" "R-right, right o-o-of coursszhe I-...you are right. You are...correct that isszh...absszholutely absszhurd, very good of you to note. Now um...can you sszhend one of your crew to collect my sszhtaff if it be at the pub?" "I'm on it, Fayne." "Thank you." With an awkward farewell nodding to him, he gently unlocked the door but the moment he did someon instantly grabbed him into a tight embrace, familiar large scaled arms wrapping round his chest, pulling him away once more to stare at him. "_FAAAAYNE!" "B-BALDWIN!" "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU!?" "NOTHING I AM ALRIGHT WHY ARE YOU SSZHOUTING!?" "DID HE DO ANYTHING?! IF HE TAINTED YOU I SSZHWEAR TO FARAM-" "NOTHING ISSZH WRONG WITH ME!" Fayne's screech made him silent as he made a harsh piercing glare towards his older brother. Baldwin wilted slightly and gently hugged him once more, tenderly nuzzling him as Kruz walked up slightly behind them. "Hhhhhhh...thank Faram...s-sszhorry brother I...I got worried when you were not in bed with me lasszht night-" "THAT doesn't sound gay at all," said Kruz taunting. "IF YOU SSZHO MUCH ASSZH TOUCHED HIM I WILL-" "You'll WHAT? Punch the captain of the ship you are currently riding on to get across Ivalice and then just completely lose your fastest mode of transport? Fine, go ahead, but there's only five of you and about eighty-six of us and I know you're pretty strong, Baldwin, but...nah." "Baldwin pleasszhe," murmured Fayne, "sszhtop embarrasszhing yoursszhelf." "I-i-i'm jusszht worried!" cried Baldwin. "I do not want to think anything happened to you okay?! If...i-i-if sszhomething...happened and you...you got...y-you know I, I-i-i don't know what I would do." "I am fine. Kruzzzh got confusszhed thinking that I wasszh Jamesszh and took me into hisszh cabin, but...upon realisszhing our misszhtake he let me sszhleep in hisszh bed and he sszhlept on the floor." "R-...r-really?" "Mmhmm," said Kruz, "I know your brother doesn't go that way so I wasn't going to disrespect him, or you. I let him have my bed, I've slept in worse places, it was my fault entirely." "I...o-o-okay...um...s-sszhorry for the...the outbursszht." "It's fine, but...please remember I am captain of this ship and normally I would not tolerate any of my passengers giving me backtalk. I'm only letting you off because we had a really drunk night so I knew a lot of mistakes were going to come up the next morn so...please, relax." "Okay okay, my fault...heh...thanksszh fer the party though, that wasszh GREAT!" Grabbing Fayne once more he pulled him into an armlock and noogie'd him in the head roughly with a ruthless fist. "Youuuuuuu were sszhpinning wild that night bro!" "A-A-A-A-Aaaaaaaa Baldwin get OFF!" "Like a nu-mou in an Aero sszhpell you were, I thought you were gonna fly off through the roof!" "G-GET, OFF YOU...UUUGH!"

Within a few hours late of the early morn everyone was now awake, recovering headaches now cleared with some good water and perhaps the odd pill if needed for more severe migraines. It was also this time that Roy chose to give his mission to the Clan Koridai after they had eaten a good breakfast along with the rest of the crew on duty. A good mix of meaty strips, eggs and sandwiches along with some roasted coffee gave them plenty of energy for what was to be their next assignment. The raptor sat at the head of their own table to the side for privacy, with Fayne and Baldwin to his left, Navarro and Dahlia on his right and Roy finally straight across facing opposite as he began with: "Alright spill, now that we're all cleaned out of...everything from the past few hours, let's hear on this mission you want." "BEFORE that," interrupted Navarro, "what did you find out in the Hopkins Archive kupo?" "Oh, right of course, okay well me and Roy both made a copy on our omni-tools so..." The raptor brought up the conversation recorded fully from Rebecca Hopkins' memstone. The conversation flowed out a little tinny-sounding but clear enough for everyone to hear it. It only added further intrigue and though nothing had been answered, it did at the very least point them in the right direction concerning their suspicions. "Mother Mariel wasszh right," began Fayne, "they were indeed an Archadian group hired." "That woman's voice," asked Dahlia, "the one called Maggie, she...she sounds familiar." "She does," inferred Rocino, "I do not know a Maggie...but it appears that we have another Hopkins to follow." "I'll ask Kruz to scope some info out," said FG, "maybe Tennyson might know something more about this Hopkins family, and why she not only has this whole mercenary force despite being some wealthy lady but also why this bitch sister of hers really wanted to kill us." "We didn't pisszh off anybody right?" replied Baldwin. "Me and Navarro have been very careful not to, leave no traces, no one unsatisfied." "Well...there wasszh that Edisszhon." "He is a charlatan!" cried Dahlia. "But not brave enough to have us disposed of by mercenarial means, I do not think he would have hired someone else for this." "You sszhure about that?" The bangaa leaned back with muscular arms crossed over his chest whilst twiddling his thumbs bored, pondering on who they could have possibly warranted enough insult to have a bounty on their heads. Eventually Navarro stated: "We will inform Mother Mariel after we leave Bhujerba en route to our next mission kupo. She might have some ideas as to whom this might be." "What I want to know," said Fayne, "isszh how on earth they could have posszhibly known about our artifact?" "They didn't, that's the point, the fact that they said 'whatever Clan Koridai has brought in most recently' means that somebody is targeting us specifically." "Or, the fact that Mother Mariel had requesszhted that missszhion, they are maybe targeting her." "True, kupo. But for now I agree with James and to let Kruz inquire on who this mysterious fugitive is, whilst we decide on our next mission. Which brings us back to you." She turned towards Roy who stared at them from across the table, promptly clearing his throat before he started. "Alrigh' then, here goes. Ah need to infiltrate a mansion in order to borrow an artifact. This artifact is sumthin' ah need in order to fulfil a favour to an old friend of mine back in Rozarria." "You say borrow, but why infiltrate this manor, kupo? If you are so inclined to borrow and not steal then why not ask the owner of the place?" "Well...that's thuh problem, it's...kinda complicated." "How...exactly is it complicated?" "Because firstly ah have no authority to go in an' basically ask to root around his place, also this artifact is kiiiiind of a family heirloom soooo ah can't really ask him if ah can just take it out fer a spin." "Is this a crystal again?" asked FG. "Because fuck those things." "Agreed," replied Fayne, "we have had many a problem with a jewel lately and I for one would be glad not to acknowledge one for a good long time." "No it's not a crystal," explained the utahraptor, "it's...a key." "Pardon?" "A key, which opens up an old ruin elsewhere so ah can get thuh real relic ah need, known as 'the Eyes of Tiresias'. It's...it's for mah boss, well, employer, ah got hired to help him doin' basic work fer thuh law office ahm with, shufflin' papers around an' shit." "Wait wait wait wait." James put his hands up leaning forwards with some suspicion. "Since when do you know about law?" "Man ah wuz workin' towards it back in high school come on you know ah wanted to be a cop!" "I didn't think you had to study for it." "Ah studied enough!" "How did you even learn how to read Ivalician anyway?!" "Ah paid ATTENTION." "Really?"

Navarro said this with a little toothy grin putting her arms crossed together as she looked towards FG. "How...interesting kupo. Someone of your origin managed to learn competence within our 'difficult' language." "Fuck you." "How long have you been in this world Roy?" "Abou' sixteen months," replied the utahraptor. "Goodness, a year and moreso. And how long have you been here James?" "Uhhhh," stammered James, "about...nine or ten months?" "And yet in all that time, we have someone here who has claimed far more proficiency than you." "Oh bullshit he could be lying!" "Oh really?" Roy said this as he pulled out another book, this time not the Bible but instead one more Ivalician in its standard, opening with one flip of his hand and spinning out the book towards James with a slide across the table. The book was almost incomprehensible in its linguistics as James pressed a finger to the page and did his best to translate it. Unfortunately he sounded like a five-year-old reading the Magna Carta. "If the...accused...is of an un-der-aged per...perrrrrr...performance-" "Persuasion," added Roy. "-then he or she must be...accompanied by...a guardian for the sake of the trial, but the child must speak in their own words...when-what the fuck is this?!" "That's thuh page dealin' with juvenile delinquents. It basically states court procedure concerning whut to do with an underaged criminal or accused." "Ahh...o-okay, I got this um...the referrrrren-tial on the pen-nalties inflicted...upon the juvenile accused can be seen in appen-dix...five-four-nine." "Heeeey congrats you finished thuh first line." "Alright YOU read it then!" He spun the book back towards the New York raptor who gladly picked it up and began reading with a much more formal disposition. "A child under the age of six cannot be considered capable of forming criminal intent, and therefore are excused from responsibility. However, their guardian or parent must then be tried for compensation to remit the damages caused by their offspring's crime. If there is evidence of neglect or abuse to the child in relation to the offence, the court will decide on whether the parent-slash-guardian is unfit to care for the child or not. If the abuse and neglect is seen as not related to the crime, then they are forwarded to the appropriate department on social services." "I did not know that," murmured Fayne. "A child between the ages of seven and fourteen is seen legally as one capable of forming a criminal intent. Should however the crime be considered much more severe than usual, of which this is a rare occurrence for only in three-percent of cases recorded has this happened, the judge can then waiver these issues towards the adult court. Normally an accused must be at least sixteen by Ivalician law in order to be tried as an adult, but an exception will be made if the act accused was that of violent, more serious deliberation such as murder, aggravated assault or rape." He closed the book and simply grinned at having read a full page of his legal document without slipping as James threw his hands up with a derisive noise from his lips. "PFFHHHHHHHT ohhhhh look at you showing off your ability to read another language, oh good for youuuuu." "Lot better than you tried to, ah know we got them translators an' all but come on, have to make an effort." "I quite agree," said Navarro gladly, "language is far more than just using your tongue, kupo." "Heh...ain't never had any complaints about mah tongue so far." Winking at FG who stammered a blush, the brown raptor couldn't resist starting with him saying: "You didn't have to kiss me like that, see this is why I did not want to be the girl at the party!" "Woah woah woah you KISSZHED him?!" cried Baldwin. "It wuz part of the act!" replied Roy. "Ah don' give a shit, wuz just one kiss." "B-BUT, what if you trade sszhaliva an' get infected with the-..."

The look on everyone's face turning towards him with derisive disbelief made him shut up almost instantly, before he decided to break the ice and nudge James in the ribs cheekily. "Heh, maybe he got confusszhed and thought you were a REAL girl!" "Shut up Baldwin." "I'm jusszht sszhaying you DO have a nisszhe girl voisszhe. Remember when you were helping me practisszhe?" "Practice what?" asked Dahlia. "UH...u-u-um..." "He wanted to practice kissing with me," said FG grinning straight back at him. "N-NO I WASSZHN'T!" "Awwwww don't be shy Baldwin, come on! Maybe deep down inside you just want a strong man to cuddle you." "I WASSZH JUSSZHT PRACTISSZHING TALKING, THERE WASSZH NO KISSZHING INVOLVE, IT WASSZH JUSSZHT TO PRACTISSZHE TALKING TO GIRLSSZH YOU WERE THE GIRL, YOU MOLLY!" "HHHHHHhahahahahahhaha, ohhhhh man alright alright...seriously, Roy that was not cool." "It worked didn't it?!" replied MacGregor. "Can we PLEASE!" Navarro slammed her fist into the table to rally their attention. "Stop getting distracted over foolish details, kupo. Now...tell me about the mission proper, what is this key you are looking for?" "It's...a key to unlock thuh ruins where thuh Eyes of Tiresias are. Ah don't actually know WHUT it is but ah did lots of research to help out mah boss cuz heeee got cursed, by a warlock to never wake up." "What?" "Never wake up?!" asked Dahlia shocked. "But, that, what sort of spell was this?" "Ah don't know, ah tried lookin' up everythin', me an' all mah fellow employees an' ah caught onto sumthin'. There's a legend that went down in Viera folklore about sumthin' that can open up one's dreams an' pull back any that are lost within. It's thuh only way ah can think that'll help him." "Why not take your employer to a university or a magic study, surely they would be able to do something!" "Ah did, that's whut they helped me out with, they said ah had to go get the Eyes of Tiresias, said it wuz the only thing they could think of that would do good for him!" "So why is this key," asked Navarro, "in the hands of some stately manor lord, kupo?" "Well...took me a long tahm to be able to track down, see this key got bought at an auction, sold off as an art piece, no one had known whut it is when it got sold so it just got sent to this guy's family an' ah can't just ask 'hey yanno that thing you bought at thuh rich auction, can ah have it?' Nah there ain' no other way for me but to take it, use it then hand it back to him without 'im knowing. The manor itself however is...kinda difficult." "Why?" "Because...it's an orphanarium." Even whilst he was explaining this next sentence, everyone stared at him with a look of confused quiet outrage and some disbelief as to what he just said. There's lahk kids everywhere an' if one of them knew whut that key meant then maaaaan, thuh trouble that would come up, plus ah don' wan' any of 'em seein' me or else damn that...ain't gonna look good......" He waited with a polite clearing of his throat as he pressed his thumbs together in his hands waiting for them to start tearing into him, before Navarro came first asking: "...I'm...sorry but are you genuinely asking us that we infiltrate and steal from an orphanarium kupo?!" "Yeah what the fuck Roy?!" cried FG. "You're one of the straightest guys I know and I know that's not saying much after the previous mission." "Oh fuck you man!" defended Roy. "Ahm not stealin' money, ah don't even want this damn artifact ah just need it for one thing, then ah can give it back." "But if this guy doesn't know that he has something so...dangerous-" "Not dangerous just...need to use it for a specific purpose an' lahk ah said, his family had it from an auction so it's rightfully his an' aaaahm not gonna get it if ah ask him." "Maybe if you just explained it to him." "Whut proof do ah have?!" "I don't know, the BOOK you apparently read it in?!" "Well maybe if he knew whut it wuz for, he might want thuh artifact for himself an' then whut?!" "You-...this...this just doesn't feel right to me." "Ah know...but ah need your help cuz you got thuh omni-tool lahk me so we can plan out our infiltration lahk we did thuh Hopkins Archive. Now you an' me got through that no problem but if we didn't have 'em, we'd be fucked."

James rubbed the furrow of his brow sternly whilst bowing forwards almost putting himself on the table trying to wrap his head around this potential plan, adding: "Yeah I guess that's true...okay so, you want us to help you-" "YOU rather," said Roy pointing at FG, "ah need you in particular." "To help you break into an orphanage just to steal this priceless artifact passed through for generations by the same family, so you can unlock some ruins to get ANOTHER artifact to help your boss wake up from a cursed sleep back in this law firm?" "Yup, that's about it." "You need us for these ruins too?" "Naw naw naw ah don' need you for that, ah just need sum help infiltratin' this place, the Brunhart Orphanarium which is actually kind of a way off distance to thuh northwest." "I know that plasszhe!" Baldwin said this with a joyful ring in his voice and a hand in the air. "Me an' my brother went there a few timesszh to help with their church, pretty far away but we help them out with sszhome deliveriesszh from Lea Monde." "Don't they have a town nearby?" asked Roy. "Well yeah but...you know, charity!" "What town exactly?" asked Dahlia. "Breekheim, it'sszh an old plasszhe, pretty far away from anywhere elsszhe mainly becausszhe it'sszh up way in the Jagd territory and it isszh a loooong way away, almosszht nobody ever goesszh there. But we do, occasszhionally, they are very tradisszhional people." "Is it...dangerous?" "Ehhh other than the usszhual wolvesszh not really, actually quite a few landownersszh up there owning farmsszh and esszhtatesszh to keep away from the sszhity people. Buuuut it doesszh mean we can't take the airsszhip up there, we'll have to walk." "By chocobo it will not take long," said Navarro, "even through mountain range." "So we good?" asked Roy. "You DID say that payment wuz non-refundable ahm gonna hold you to that." "Hmph...since we have already accepted payment we must do so regardless. But under one condition. We will NOT shed any blood in this orphanage under any circumstances-" "Absolutely agreed, ah got no intention of drawin' mah blade in that place, ah just wanna get in, get out, that's it." "So what's your plan then?" asked FG. "Wellllll..." Roy pulled out from his own satchel a small map as well as a flyer for an invitation of some sort, handing them over to FG's group. "In about two months from now, there's gonna be a charity ball where all thuh wealthy business people are attending. Thuh main reason is so as a fundraiser for thuh orphanage, invite all thuh people to come through, they have it every few years so that's our way to sneak in." "And how are we getting in?" "Ah will represent mahself as part of thuh law firm ahm with so ah can make a donation, that will be mah in. You-" "I'm not gonna be a girl again." "-will be another representative, actually ah wuz gonna let you pick whut you wanted to be." "I don't really wanna get into disguise again, what's the security on this place?" "Hardly any, it's a place for children, thuh only security they got is all thuh windows an' doors are locked down every night with magicite barriers to protect them." "Um, isn't this in Jagd territory where magicite doesn't work?" "Only skystones do not work," said Dahlia formally, "magicite itself works perfectly fine but the way skystones operate, the Jagd interferes with their resonantial qualities and cause them to fail. Magic itself works perfectly fine however." "...uhhhh okay I'm confused." "When are you not?" replied Fayne cheekily. "Heheheh, okay...so, we have a plan, somewhat, just show us where this place is and what we gotta expect, and I'll have Kruz fly us close as we could to it." "Actually, might I make a requisszhite?" "Yeah Fayne?" "Being that our new objective liesszh yonder over northwesszht, why not take our findingsszh from the Archive to Mother Mariel along the way, that way we can alsszho plan out our route on foot." "Yeah, alright sure, that's pretty good you cool with that Roy?" "Fine bah me," said the utahraptor, "but remember, we have to be at thuh ball on thuh fourteenth of Aries. You migh' wanna buy a few tents if we gonna camp out waitin' to get in, ah mean if there's no room available at thuh inn." "Well," said Fayne smirking, "we can alwaysszh try the manger." "HAH...awwww you remembered whut ah told you!" "I wasszh very fasszhinated by your world lore, I could not resszhisszht." Roy simply chuckled as the clan planned out their next two months of preparation. For the most part they would have little else to do other than wait forming small particulars of the actual plan itself, whilst all the while solving little missions that were still piling up at their Nalbina HQ's door. At the very least, James felt somewhat happier about his group dynamic looking a mite more wholesome than it had previously been, reminding himself to thank Kruz later for the turbulent night of fun.