[ Open ] This is What I Brought You

[portolan]

Who: Balthier portolan and you
What: Tarot Reading, return from off-world, open post
When: Mid to late November
Where: Excelsior, his shop, around town
Content Warnings: None so far



OOC: As always, will match prose or brackets.

I. Sign of the Times

[ Business has been...odd...since the near world-ending, since everyone started leaving town, since the guilds have cracked down. It's all the more important he keep the shop safe, but he's that much more wary of people wandering in. So far, the normal folk don't seem to suspect the shop is anything more than a beautiful man with beautiful objects.

But he's been getting restless. So he puts a message out on Our Powers; stop by, guild discounts (either side) and also he's reading tarot.

There's an antique table and two comfortable antique chairs. There are a few decks to choose from. ]

You have a question in mind? You don't have to tell me, but you should think about it while you shuffle.

II. No Place Like Home

[ It's not like Balthier to be low or keep to himself. But between the world almost ending, and then his friends slowly moving our of Excelsior, the anti-meta sentiment threatening the safety of he and his loved ones. He honestly hadn't noticed it eroding his energy.

But after two weeks home, both relieved that his loved ones there are safe and buffeted by the pain of being away from them, he's trying to make a better effort.

So he's reached out, invited people over for tea or dinner, trying to keep this house full and warm as the need to just jump on a ship and go steadily increases. ]

You know this is the longest I've spent tied to one location. There's something enchanting about watching the weather change.

[ He sets out a tray of tea and snacks, all in beautiful antiques. Honestly, eleven months ago, he'd never have expected to get this much comfort out of being so domestic, but here he is. ]

III. Wildcard / Catch-All

[ All your Balthier needs ]

Comments

[portolan]

It's true. Not a lot of paperwork in tomb robbing.

[ Not that he was actually bad at paperwork. Or school. He'd have been a fine aristocrat or professor or gods forbid judge if he'd been left to do it his own way in his own time. That still terrified him. ]

Guess it caught up with me running a damned guild store. All this advanced technology and some how they've made the paperwork worse.

[ He has an assistant. But he isn't letting any information out of his sight after the cauldron incident last spring. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[Tomb robbing? Not quite what he would expect of a pirate.]

I think it may depend somewhat on the institution. I take it the guilds like to overinvolve themselves?

[portolan]

If I'm being fair -- which they don't deserve -- it's not over involved. Knowing where these things are and what they can do is important, given everything.

Oh, speaking of.

[ He gets up to go dig in a drawer near the front of the house and comes back with a handful of trinkets -- a coin, a ring, a simple charm on a cord. ]

They all have illusion spells anchored to them. Unless you do something utterly attention-grabbing, they'll make strangers see you as unremarkable and thus hard to remember. Please, take one.

[ He's been giving them to his loved ones since all this mess started, and he likes Sephiroth well enough. Also the hair and the height mean he's going to have a harder time on his own. Balthier and David at least can can blend in on their own. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth blinks. He's being offered charms? He cautiously picks up the ring.]

...it wouldn't change my appearance. Simply make people think it unremarkable?

[portolan]

[ Balthier nods, glad he's made an array of tokens. Everyone is picking different ones. ]

Does nothing to you, and anyone who knows you well won't be affected. It's entirely a perceptive barrier to make strangers not notice you.

[unkindled_madness]

[Rings are just a very normal kind of enchanted accessory. Sephiroth doesn't do necklaces, although Balthier may notice that he is wearing an ear cuff that he didn't have in the past.]

That is a useful thing.

...surely you aren't just giving these away.

[portolan]

What, are you suggesting I make a profit off of them?

[ He's not interested in making money; he gets plenty from work honestly. And he wants to know whose hands these are in.

While he talks he's observing, though, and the ear cuff doesn't escape notice. He'll store that away, maybe poke more later. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[Do pirates not.. enjoy material gain? Balthier seems to like Nice Things, judging by his home.]

If profit doesn't interest you, you might ask favors.

We're only acquaintances, after all.

[portolan]

[ It's alright, Sephiroth; this pirate confuses a good deal of people with his behavior. Himself included at times. ]

I get my profit on the guild's back; I don't want these logged or regulated.

[ It had been a gift; they'd helped each other in multiple tight spots. But Balthier is enough of a pirate not to turn down a favor. ]

You can owe me a favor then.

[unkindled_madness]

I see.

[He doesn't want the guild to know about these talismans, and Sephiroth likes that. He tries the ring on a few different fingers before settling it where it seems to fit best.]

A favor it is then. I'm not sure what need you'll have of me, but we do seem to find each other when some chaos is happening.

[portolan]

We certainly do. Cheers to no chaos today.

[ He leaves the other talismans on the coffee table to be dealt with later and settles back in his chair. ]

That’s an interesting earring you have. I like a good ear decoration.

[ With ears full of metal, that’s not exactly a shocking statement. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth pauses for a moment as he retrieves his teacup. He glances over Balthier's earrings, and he could probably just say he liked it, but he wasn't prepared to be asked about it and Balthier isn't stupid.]

...it has its own enchantment. I'm not really one for jewelry, otherwise.

[portolan]

I shall tell anyone courting you practical jewelry only then.

[ It’s a tease, but he still watches for reaction with curiosity. He won’t pry but he will absolutely observe. ]

How are things at the library. My apologies again for…honestly everything about Halloween.

[ He’d gotten increasingly irritable and eventually run off. His transformation muddled his head a good deal more than others. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[The remark earns him a snort. No one's courting him. Loki isn't courting him.

...probably? Not after that one time.]

Things have returned to their usual semblance of normalcy, for now. And there's no need to mention it. I was... irritable, myself.

[Among other things.]

[portolan]

Oh so you do have a taste for flashy gifts too.

[ He's teasing, fairly certain that's not what the snort was for. ]

Agree to consider it done and out of character for both of us. As much as I would choose to stay here, the bodily impacts are something I could do without.

[unkindled_madness]

I don't know what you mean about flashy gifts.

[Since the snort was not for that, he legitimately isn't following.]

...you would choose to stay?

[portolan]

[ Balthier would normally be attentive to having lost a conversation partner, but the latter catches his attention more. ]

There are things here I don't have at home. Anonymity. David.

[unkindled_madness]

Of course.

[He understands this completely, actually.]

But does David not wish to return home?

[portolan]

In a rare stroke of kind fate, no, he doesn't wish to either.

[ Which had been an enormous relief. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[...well, that's different. The David he knew on the islands had wanted to return quite badly.]

I didn't meant to suggest it would separate you. If we find a means to return properly, you might go with him.

If he wanted.

[portolan]

[ Balthier had considered that. Knew he'd follow, if that was what David wanted. ]

Not my place to speak for him, but -- I think we both appreciate how much we're able to just...be people here. Crises and all.

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth nods.]

...I believe I can understand that.

[portolan]

How about you? Would you go back?

[unkindled_madness]

Only to tie up loose ends. It was never much of a "home."

[portolan]

That's about how I feel about home. Archades, not Ivalice as a whole but -- not sure I want to deal with either these days.