Red Mage in the Sands (Open)

Soren was pretty sure that this was a very bad idea, but Telira was adamant. She might be the newly installed ruler of her world; she might be the only hope that the world has; she might even be the chosen champion of the Crystals themselves, but for crying out loud, she needed a vacation! She was sick and tired of dealing with squabbling farmers and nobles who thought too highly of themselves and their own importance to the world at large, and the backwater jerks who simply couldn't understand why this world travel thing could actually HELP their world.

Dear Crystals, there were some calling for the complete expulsion of anyone not native to their world! As if that could fly for more than a second. Seriously.

Telira didn't have any problems with the Universal Metroplex, or the train that traveled back and forth between the worlds to and from it. New ideas, new magics, new technologies could be very good for the people of her world… but getting that through the thick skulls of those backwater idiots who didn't like it simply because it was new and strange…

To say that her nerves were wound tight would be putting it mildly, and it didn't help that she'd been out of sorts for several days now. She'd been more than a little irritable, even more so than usual, and it was making things worse, and she knew that it was making things worse because she simply wasn't able to let things slide.

So to keep an already bad situation from getting even worse, she countermanded Soren's worries and ordered her ship skyward, looking for a place to relax and get away from the responsibilities. Soren's concern only grew when she directed them to one of the other worlds, a distant corner of Spira. She wanted someplace calm, peaceful, and ended up in the desert sands of Bikanel Island, sitting on a rock at the edge of an oasis, simply looking into the water.

Crucent sighed happily as her airship landed.

According to her maps she was within spitting distance of a very remote oasis in a World called Spira. Just what she needed to unwind for all the chaos in her life these days. Noone knew she was here, not even Sin or Tiupiu and it was WONDERFUL!

Skipping down the walkway onto the sand, she giggled when she walked onto it, feeling like a naughty schoolgirl that had skipped class. Her happy demeanour suddenly disappeared from her face tho, as soon as she saw some woman in a red outfit sitting across the oasis on a rock. Scowling a little she squared her shoulders and decided to make the best of it, and walked around the body of water to greet the woman, and as it turned out the bearded man accompanying her.

"Hi. I am Crucent and I can honestly say, I'm surprised at meeting someone else here"

Telira looked up from her study of the water at her feet and nodded in greeting to the Elvaan woman who approached. She'd seen a few of them and they were very different from the familiar elves of Elfheim.

For one, Elves were *much* shorter.

"I'm afraid I didn't expect to see anyone either, I was hoping to be able to get away from things for a while. Life has been... rather stressful of late. This seemed like a good place to just... relax."

She pushed a smile onto her face. "If you wanna talk, I'll listen. I'm sure you've got your own reasons for wanting a little solitude for a while. If you don't, that's okay. I think Soren's doing some straightening up on our airship to keep himself busy, so I doubt we'll be interrupted, for a while at least."

Sitting down next to the woman, Crucent simply nodded and said nothing, just enjoying the wiew for a little while.
It was somehow comforting to just sit next to her without any pressure of talking. Crucent had had enough talk these last few weeks to last her a lifetime really.
Lying down on the warm rocks, she closed her eyes, then said quietly "Thing is... I've been selected to be the leader of my world, and it's good, it's just... everybody wants me for something all the time, some are angry and would like my attention 24/7, others are upset due to some thing or other, then there are the usually petty neighbouring arguments over land. Be it towns or people, it still get's very old very fast. So I snuck off for a day, I just really needed a break from it for a little bit...

For a moment Telira wasn't entirely certain she'd heard the woman right. How in the name of the Crystals had she managed to run into someone else in her unique situation? It seemed impossible, and yet that was exactly what she was hearing.

She took a deep breath. "I understand exactly how you feel. I was minding my own business, which was none of anyone else's, and I was informed that the world needed me, needed my leadership." She paused. "You must understand, I went walking into certain oblivion for the sake of the world's survival once already. I lost far more than I could afford to lose, everything that meant anything to me, to right the wrongs which had been done. I'm still not sure why I even exist after that. And then these yahoos come to me telling me that I've been called to leadership and the world needs my sacrifice and..."

She threw up her hands in frustration. "There are days I almost wish I'd just killed the stuffed shirts and been done with it. It has been one frustration after another! There was this pair of farmers. They've been bickering over the border between their farms for generations and they come looking at me like they expect me to side with them and I just wanna throttle both of them..."

She gave a wry chuckle. "So against the better judgement of my few friends, I decided I needed to get away from the whole rotten mess for a while. Maybe if I'm not right there then they can deal with their own problems for a bit."

Hearing the other womans story Crucent couldn't help but laugh at the improbablility of it all, two new World Leaders, both fed up with the daily hassle had come to the same oasis at the same time.

"Well..." she chuckled "It's a pleasure to meet you. And I can Definately relate to the sheer stupidity of it all. If I had know it would be like this, I might not have accepted so readily."

"So, what is the name of your world, I live on Vana'diel myself"

Telira chuckled. "My world doesn't seem to have a name, not like that. We... we never knew about the other worlds until recently so we never had a cause to give it a name apart from all the others. The other worlds have only now become aware of us, and us of them, so it's causing a great deal of stress adapting to the change." She paused. "There's the Kingdom of Cornelia, the Pirate city of Pravoka, the elves in Elfheim, the dwarves in Mount Duergar..." She looked down at the water for a time.

"I've seen a few of the other worlds, though, and mine is very small in comparison."

Just then there was the sound of a high-pitched chirping or maybe a squeak of some sort. Telira looked up and chuckled softly. "Careful, Commodore!"

The sound became louder as the source of it came closer, very quickly, and then a Moomba appeared, running on all fours towards them, and he was wearing a red officer's jacket that was almost longer than he was, with a hat on his head. He leaped into the air and landed on the rock next to Telira and promptly hugged her, chirping the whole time.

When he noticed Crucent, he paused and looked at her intently for a moment before edging closer to sniff at her several times in curiosity.

Telira chuckled. "Please be known to Commodore Fuzzy Paws, a friend of mine and the terror of pencil-pushers the world over."

Giggling at the odd creature, Crucent held up a hand for him to sniff, or shake, wichever he preferred and replied "Delighted to meet you Commodore. My Name is Crucent, and I have to say; you look stunning!"

Nodding her head she smiled and her eyes twinkled with sheer mirth at the sight of the very cute creature, dressed up in a spiffy jacket and the hat.
"what kind of creature is he? I have never seen anything like him before." Fascinated; she watched him as he watched her, trying to figure out what she was.

Telira chuckled as the Commodore took Crucent's hand and bowed over it, mimicking the humans he'd seen and then licked the back of her hand in greeting. "We aren't sure what he is, but he's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. We aren't even certain how he found his way to my world, but I found some rather inconsiderate louts frightening him rather badly and... well, I've got a temper sometimes. He's been following me around since then."

Now that he had both women's attention, the Commodore began to strut around and squeaked in a manner that looked very much like he was lampooning the speech style of the very self-important people who had practically driven both of them to this isolated oasis.

Telira had to tilt her head back and laugh. "He's the best thing that's happened to me since I made friends with Soren. Of course, half the fun is the fact that he's our 'Chuck Finley'." She chuckled and then continued because she was almost certain that the Elvaan woman wouldn't know the reference. "It comes from a confidence scheme from time immemorial. Create a boogeyman, usually fictitious or embodied in someone who is ordinarily not that personality type. We've been spreading horror stories about this 'Commodore' who can summarily exile any paper-pushing annoyance that gets in his way or in the way of his friends. The Commodore seems to understand the humor in the situation and so he's willing to ham up the situation if we need him to actually make an appearance."

She giggled. "You should see the bureaucrats falling over themselves to accommodate us at the mere mention of his name."

Smiling at the creature, Crucent laughed when she heard about Teliras little trick to get her people to keep in line.
"I like it, very devious, but I like it a lot."

Still watching Fuzzy as she called him in her head, she couldnt stop smiling at the way he behaved, acting like alot of the higher ups she often saw back home as well, the resemblance was frankly uncanny to say the least.

But where he was funny and charming his human coounterparts were all the more grotesque in their appearance now that she compared them to him.

"He clearly is very clever. I think he delights in having fun, and it seems he knows that his mimickry is a source of amusement for us. your lucky too have him."

Telira nodded at Crucent's words. "Yes, I am very lucky. He's a wonder and a delight and while I'd like to find out where he comes from so that I can know him better, I would be greatly saddened if he chose to leave the ship to return to his proper home."

The Commodore paused and turned his head to look at Telira with large, liquid eyes that seemed to shimmer with tears, something she wasn't certain was even possible, but it was unmistakable as he squeaked several times as if chastising her before capering over to wrap his furry arms around her with odd gentleness and rub his face against her midsection. It seemed as if he were trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to leave her and she wrapped her arms around him as well, crooning softly.

"Oh Commodore, what if you've got a family worrying about you? I couldn't live with myself if I kept you away from loved ones."

After a moment he disentangled himself and went back to capering around them, imitating any number of officials that he had seen while they were traveling and Telira had to laugh with him. An idea occurred to her and she turned to Crucent. "Would you like to help us spread the Commodore's fearsome reputation? The diversion might help you deal with the stuffed shirts."

Giving Telira a surprised look, Crucent thought about her suggestion for a little while, and the more she thought, the more amused she became until she was grinning widely.
"I like the idea, but how do you suggest I do it?"

Looking at the Commodore, Crucent had serious trouble imagining him as terrifying and couldn't help but giggle at the idea of him beeing used as a way to shut up great big muscly Galkans in fear of his repercussions. All she wanted to do was pet and cuddle him.

Telira chuckled, too. It was painfully obvious that the Commodore could not be frightening under normal conditions. But she'd learned how to make conditions... not normal.

"Well, part of it is acting like you are scared of what he can do. He's good at hamming up his side of things but the rest of us have issues keeping straight faces sometimes. You mention that there's a Commodore who scares even you and that doing what you say is the easiest and most painless option."

She chuckled. "People will always take their cues from those around them and if you act like you're scared, then they'll be scared too. If you act like something's fun, then they'll think it's fun too. It's a bit of a confidence game, but it does work. People always want to fit into the environment around them, especially if they aren't certain of themselves."

She looked at Crucent. "Think you'd like to get in on the act?"

Grinning at Telira Crucent thought about it some more, imagining using The Commodore as the hidden threat against people like Naja Salaheem, or the Galkas when they were having a bad day and laughed till she fell over in the sand.

"oooh goddess, I needed that!" Sitting up straight again she still chuckled a bit as she looked at him then said "Allright, I'm in."

Telira grinned wide as Crucent made the decision to join in the fun of a confidence game that didn't actually hurt anyone... just made things work more easily to get stuff done.

The Commodore took in the laughing expressions and made a mewling squeaking sound that Telira usually interpreted as his form of laugh before running over and hugging the Elvaan woman. He definitely approved of her joining the game.

Telira chuckled. "So, who do you want to make terrified of the Commodore today? We could play at being Assistants/Servants to his Commodoreness as he shops and makes outrageous demands that are more silly than anything else. It's kinda funny to see people bowing before him because me and mine do so first." She thought carefully for a moment.

She started to open her mouth to make another suggestion when the Commodore, who had started romping around again, lost his footing on some pebbles and went backwards, his oversized paws windmilling through the air. He landed against Telira with a startled squeak and knocked her off the rock she was sitting on and directly into the water.

The Commodore panicked.

Laughing as the Commodore gave her a rather enthusiastic hug, Crucent said "well... there is a certain Mithra by the name of Naja Salaheem that needs to get her stick removed from her behind..."

Just as she was about to elaborate The Commodore came running by, slipped and slapped Telira into the oasis itself before he started making loud whining noises and became completely frantic, pacing the waters edge and looking at Crucent with big worried eyes. Getting up quickly, She waded into the water, where Telira had gone under and took a deep breath then dove into the crystalclear water, easily spotting the sinking body of Telira, her white hair blossoming out around her lazily. Kicking her legs hard, Crucent quickly caught u to Telira, and wrapped an arm around her waist then aimed upwards to the surface again, and used her free arm as well as her legs to breach the waters surface again.

Coughing and spitting, she waded back on land as she laid Telira down on the ground, with the Commodore still milling nervously about.

" Relax, I got her up, now I just need to get her to breathe again" Quickly she laid out Telira and started pressing firmly on her chest a few times then breathed into Teliras mouth, as she had seen someone do once to a person who had fallen into water, hoping it would help.

Telira wasn't actually trying to cause panic in anyone, least of all the Commodore. The truth of the matter is that she liked being underwater sometimes. It was... it was peaceful. And it wasn't like she couldn't breathe, the Oxyale took care of that for her.

She was not, though, expecting the response from Crucent, or from the Commodore. She found herself hauled out of the water unexpectedly and then Crucent was pressing on her chest like she was trying to get her to start breathing again... like she'd been drowning.

Telira blinked in surprise and struggled to sit up. "Hey, hey, I'm alright. I'm alright. I've got Oxyale; it lets me breathe underwater. Is it really that unusual?"

The Commodore practically glomped her, licking all over her face and then wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her with his head against her stomach, whining slightly in a way that said that he'd been worried and was very sorry for the dousing.

Sitting back Crucent let out a sigh of relief as she replied
"I have no idea what this Oxyhale thing is, but PLEASE don't do that again. You freaked me out!."

Squeezing the water out of her hair, she smiled a bit at the Commodore's behaviour and said "And him too, by the look of things."

Telira nodded as she tried, in vain, to extract herself from the Commodore's frightened grip. "Yeah, it wasn't intentional, believe me." She sighed and gave up trying to escape, choosing to pat the Commodore on his back comfortingly. "Oxyale is... well it's something I picked up back home. Fairies can gather it from the bottoms of some ponds and lakes. It produces air continuously, allowing a person to breathe underwater. Useful for visiting the mermaids and stuff."

She looked at the Moomba who was still wrapped around her waist and whining and sighed loudly. "Commodore, I'm alright. I wasn't gonna drown or anything." She shook her head. "You'd think he almost killed me from his reaction."

She looked back at Crucent. "Well, since it looks like we're both soaked to the bone, you wanna let the sun dry us off or you wanna head back to my airship and we can find some clean clothes?"

Looking at Telira, then at herself Crucent laughed a little and said "It's very kind of you to offer me dry clothing but..." standing up she tilted her head a bit to the side as she grinned and continued "...I get the feeling im a tad taller then you are and unless you have a clothes shop in that ship of yours, I don't think any clothing you *do* have will fit me. But I don't mind at least drying off a bit if you happen to have some towels at least."

Telira chuckled. "Yeah, you are a bit larger than I am, aren't you?" She looked up at the Elvaan woman and chuckled again. "Good thing you're not a guy or I probably wouldn't be able to speak right now."

She struggled to her feet and finally got the Commodore to back off enough so that she could stand. He stayed very close to her, though, humming deep in his throat and rubbing his head against her midsection.

She had to laugh at him. "I'm fine. Seriously, I'm fine. You, though, could use a good scrubbing yourself. Wet fur is not my favorite odor." She shook her head and then looked back at Crucent with a smile. "Let's get some towels and dry off."

The airship sat on the sands and there was movement on the decks as the various crew members went about their tasks, setting the ship at rights while they had the chance between flights. A white-haired dwarf was shouting orders until he caught sight of the three figures and used a handy rope to drop himself to the ground quickly.

"Tel? Are you alright?" He paused, "And how in the name of the Crystals did you find a way to get soaked in a desert?"