when things break bad...

[ldfsh]

Bad End AU Meme

Sometimes you want a fix-it AU. You want everyone to live, to be happy, to find love, so on and so forth. You want the bad guy to lose early, for victory and triumph. Those are great things. Those are happy things. But sometimes terrible things happen to good people and you want to get catharsis through making some characters suffer. We understand. We really do. Sometimes no one wins. Sometimes the villain wins. Sometimes even if the heroes win everything is for naught. Sometimes, things just don't end happily.

• Top level your character. Include any details you might think are relevant. Or don't. As always, we're not the cops.
  
• Reply to other people's top levels!
  
• Have fun!

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

Well, if he’s going to put it like that he’s going to get a very unimpressed expression from the Viera.

“Are all Humes as strange as you?”

[portolan]

That pulls a hearty laugh from Balthier, lighter than it's been in months.

"No, I'm afraid I'm one of a kind."

[helpdesk_hero]

“Then She was wise, to guide me to a singular example,” he decided with a nod as they walk.

He was, of course, working his hardest to keep a stride suitable for the Hume beside him.

[portolan]

He isn't going to argue with David's confidence in the Wood, or in turn, in Balthier.

Well, not much. "I think she was wise to guide you to a hume who thinks a good deal about how other humes behave," he agrees. He's not sure he's a good example of much of anything.

He does push to keep up with David best he can. His stamina is improving, but a few days can only do so much. "We may need to get chocobos on the plains," he muses.

[helpdesk_hero]

“I have heard of them. They are the large birds, yes? How does one go about acquiring such things?”

Were they bribed? Did the birds get thanked after they were used?

[portolan]

"There are people who catch and train them, though some people catch wild ones. I -- do not necessarily recommend it. They do live on the plains though. We'll likely see wild ones."

They are very food amenable animals.

[helpdesk_hero]

“Yes, it is wise not to force rigidity of control on that which flows free. It damages not only the thing forced, but that which is around it,” he notes, nodding along.

[portolan]

Balthier smiles, easy and natural. That's an attitude that will be pleasant to travel with. Fran was similar, though David has a higher interest in that which he doesn't know.

"You sound like a man of the skies. We'll get along quite easily, I think."

[helpdesk_hero]

“I am of the wood,” he reminds Balthier. “I do not know if I know how to be of the skies.”

[portolan]

"I didn't know either, when I started. Not to say I have any intention of changing you, just that the skies might agree with you too. They did with Fran. And that they are the best way for us to get to Balfonheim after a point."

[helpdesk_hero]

Fair enough. And in a way the skies were the furthest thing from the Wood. Maybe he needed that.

"We shall consider, but only once rest has happened for you. It is best to rest when you need it."

[portolan]

Balthier's smile is warm, if amused. "I promise to rest," he agrees. "Wouldn't dream of fighting you, especially over something so easily remedied."

[helpdesk_hero]

Good, for David felt his binding and final duty to the Wood was, in no small part, tied to Balthier. He would hate to find himself in position to have trouble with the man disagreeing about caring for himself.

“Good. In the mean time, I shall hope my woodcraft will help us.”

[portolan]

Balthier hasn't put together yet that he is, in some ways, a duty, which is perhaps for the better.

"It will," he says confidently. "And I think you will have a unique base to learn new plants and creatures."

It's nice, to have someone to talk to, especially in this jungle he associates so deeply with Fran. Not fighting off his own memories, he's not tiring as rapidly.

[helpdesk_hero]

"There are more than a few things I seek to learn. Like where to get more books."

He shall likely end up with a heavy pack of them.

[portolan]

David’s enthusiasm for books makes him smile. “We will stop at every book seller.” He’s going to have to think about finding a ship again.

It hurts. But it will be most practical.

[helpdesk_hero]

Every book seller? An eyebrow raises.

“Is this a common thing for your people? To sell important things as books?”

[portolan]

"Book shops are common, yes. The range in importance and value." Balthier can't help chuckling. "I don't think you'll like them, but we'll have to show you some of the lower quality novels for entertainment. Some are more pamphlets than books. There are rare booksellers too, of very old or very important books."

What a strange thing, to be re-experiencing the world through a Viera's eyes. For the first time in awhile, a real sense of adventure stirs in him.

[helpdesk_hero]

Old and important? How intriguing.

"I shall try what you suggest. Maybe we'll find something new for me to learn."

He expected he would learn a lot of things actually.

[portolan]

"I'm not sure it's an if, but rather a what you want to learn. I...have some new questions myself."

It's been long enough that he suspects a lot of books on the occuria have been bought up, if Cid is wise, but he's so power hungry it's not entirely certain. Balthier frowns. "Actually, it might be good for us to go on an information hunt of sorts, while we work."

[helpdesk_hero]

An information hunt?

"I am capable of hunting. Perhaps my skills will transfer."

do we want to maybe time skip/new thread to reaching a settlement?

[portolan]

"They very well might," Balthier says. "That's the fun of adventuring. Having and idea, but not really knowing until it happens."

He'd lost that these past months.

oooh that sounds good, imagine Balthier getting to react to David's awe and amusement

[helpdesk_hero]

"It is not the life I have lived. The forest is... predictable, even when it is changing."

He had been trained in a very specific and very focused path in life. This was new.

time skip

[portolan]

They talk comfortably, walking until Balthier needs to rest, and this time he does not try to push past that. It's nice to have someone else make the decisions and be of assistance, and it's nice not to be alone, even if he feels somehow guilty that it's his having come to the Wood that pulled David away from the home he truly loves. He and Fran had been conflicted, yes, but neither of them had loved home the way David did.

It's a few more days of walking, chatting and hunting and occasionally fending off angry beasts as they go. The forest thins and gives way to grasslands on craggy hills, and it isn't long before Balthier sees airship moorings.

"Traders," Balthier points out. "With any luck, we can get passage."

When they reach it, it's an encampment of several trade caravans, wagons and children and chocobos running around, probably 50 people all told. It's strange, after the quiet of the forest and his grief, but there's something pleasant about it too. Life goes on, it seems.

[helpdesk_hero]

It's strange for Balthier, the change from the quiet and the grief. For David it's culture shock. There are so many people around, there's so much noise, there's so much to see and do. And, more than that, there are eyes on him. Quite a few eyes. Insane numbers of eyes.

he doesn't even question as to whether or not these people, primarily but not exclusively Humes, have ever seen a Viera before. It doesn't matter if they have or haven't. They almost guaranteed haven't seen a male Viera, and he towers above all of them. Probably didn't help that even the Viera men wore heels, which hunters did to help get extra grip on branches that the claws on his toes weren't not enough to provide.

"There are many of them," he says, his voice soft.