Sixteen and Seventy-Seven both locked eyes with one another at the mention of gentlemen, nodding as they turned to face the doorway. They flanked Sounsyy from either side as she opened the barrier between the cozy insides of her cabin, and the wild open sky.
The stars were out tonight. There was not a cloud to be seen. The dark evening sky was like a warm blanket that coated the horizon in a velvet sheet of silver moonlight. The slight scent of salt from the waves below them enveloped Ryanti’s senses; his aquamarine eyes blinked once at the sudden gust that came right after.
The shroud of the evening coated him and Jonathan also. While Jonathan’s features faded into obscurity, Ryanti’s platinum white hair and light skin felt right at home in the evening’s shroud. His keeper genes from his mother perhaps contributed to that. The young man’s snowy locks twirled and braved around his facial features and scalp as a response to the wind.
Before Sounsyy had turned around, Ryanti had leaned himself against the corner of the doorway. He could not help but pause for a moment to observe the tie escape the Captain’s hair. Her brunette hair followed the shape of the wind, and so did his gaze fall upon her. It was the first time he ever saw Sounsyy relaxed. He felt himself hold his breath, for but a moment he asked this beautiful moon tonight to stop moving long enough for him to be able to lose track of time. As there was something else right now more pleasant to his senses than the evening sky.
He felt a light tap on his shoulder by Jonathan’s palm, followed by two quiet chuckles from his superior officer. It only took that much to snap him back into the here and now. Ryanti immediately took a step back from the doorway, now outside and holding the artifact close at hand.
The two men followed her flank, allowing her space and ample time to continue her duties of keeping supervision over her crew. One that was ignorant of the situation would have thought the two men were bodyguards of Sounsyy’s based on how orderly their paces were. They always kept an equal distance from the captain, no matter how quickly or slowly she walked. Jonathan kept his attention on the Captain at all times, but Ryanti found himself eyeing everyone she addressed.
Through the straight by morning? That was an excellent sign. It meant that they would be manuvearing out into the open ocean by daybreak. There was an exciting thought that came from Ryanti; he had never been out in open sea before in this life, and this would be the first time. It will be an adventurous indeed, if the schedule was kept.
But there was no question that tonight was unbelievably beautiful from the decks of the Roehmerl. He could not ask for more than this, and he made a mental note to store the memory.
P’welro looked straight out of a picture book again, Ryanti thought. She would probably smack him upside his head if he told her that. Or smirk. The moonlight’s shroud over her was like that of the Captain’s; a sight that could very well be a gift from the Navigator. Luckily, both men did not miss the image of the moon as it shone through the windows of the next room they arrived at. At once, they followed the Captain down the aft stairs. Both men were quick to pick up on the nature of the room, but why were they stopping here?
Ryanti was the first to find out why, although Jonathan crossed his arms after finding out not too long after Ryanti did. The young Hyqo’te’s memory flashed backwards to the mental image of the Sea Wolf stripping him of his weapons. She had displayed a degree of hesitation in her methods. He knew he was not in a position to try to assume why. He was more occupied with observing Sounsyy’s bare hand that the bandage and gauntlets had kept well hidden. So it was true, her left hand had lost its ring finger.
It stung him. He was unsure whether or not her injury had occurred before or after they met the first time in person. He could not imagine sustaining an injury like losing a finger without it causing a certain degree of emotional toil. Yet here she was, proceeding as if nothing important had happened at all but an infected bruise. At least she flinched, enough to tell Ryanti that she was not invincible. He found himself glancing at all five of his fingers on his left hand. It stung again.
Jonathan did not bother himself with thoughts like these. He had enough to worry about with his own men. He could not afford to worry about the other side of the fence for now. She did not say anything to him about it, so he returned the favor. Though a smile did escape him when Sounsyy dismissed the idea of an extra pair of hands.
Upon following her once more, Ryanti kept his gaze a little longer at the garden the Sea Wolf was watering, mentally noting the kinds of flowers and plants that laid there. It was a better thing to think about than once again witnessing the area in which they first came in and walked themselves right into an ambush by their own allies. Yet the sight of Berasaem cheered him up a bit. He smiled at their approach. Looks like she was doing a good job so far, just like he thought. No fishbacks in sight!
So this was when his Superior left him. Jonathan placed one arm upon his breast and bowed politely to Sounsyy’s statements. “I heavily appreciate your pardon from morning’s bell, Captain. Rest assured that when we wake, my men will be fully rested and ready to work.â€
“Sir.†Ryanti mentioned with a whisper, offering him a parting salute. Jonathan responded with a casual version of their salute – foregoing the leg positions and simply raising his hand affront of his right side and lowering it. Jonathan was almost unnaturally quiet in opening the door – this company was immensely trained in stealth entry after all.
“Yes ma’am.†Ryanti replied to Sounsyy’s wordings, with a quieter and calmer tone. He proceeded to follow her. He was quiet at they reached the galley and mess hall, though Ryanti’s working eyes were as observant as ever. He was impressed at the size, for he did not expect one could create such a large room inside of a ship, especially one that was deemed to be smaller than most warships. Ryanti looked slightly less small in this room, being taller than Sounsyy. He found the snoring noise odd but did not question, choosing to just be quiet and follow the Captain. It seemed to be the wise thing to do.
He waited patiently for Sounsyy to work her way through wherever she needed to go in order to get to a place where this object could be rested. He was pleased at the technique it took to find it. It would take someone unknowledgeable of the whereabouts to go through a rather long and annoying trial to obtain it, and they would still have to open the damn thing. He felt like he should ask to help her, but… he did not figure that was wise either.
“I wouldn’t doubt that their smuggling efforts at least saw some success. This is a good enough spot to place this construct.†He muttered in approval. He got down upon his knees and began to maneuver himself in the semi-awkward realm of positions that could afford him to rest the object down into the hatch without doing any method of harm towards it. A few muffled sounds of stress accompanied this, for it was not exactly the easiest job. But Ryanti did not complain, and he was standing up and dusting off his operative’s suit in no time.
Seventy-Seven crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, crossing his feet as well, so that he was able to tap his toes against the floor of the place as Sounsyy placed them away. While Sounsyy worked, the only time she saw Ryanti glance back at her was once. His expression was neutral, though his ears ever so slightly sunk.
He was beginning to feel rather oppressed at the idea of not being trusted, even though he understood the logic behind it and the reality he was currently facing at the hands of fate that he had been dealt. Still, he was not prepared for her to directly bring up the course of events that happened when they met for the first time. He still remembered that day very keenly.
He blinked and his ears tightened back up to where they normally rested, taking a few steps away from leaning against the wall in order to trail her. His eyes trailed his intuition, and found her gauntlets bending towards the palm of her hand in a slight clenching motion. She was not relaxed anymore, not like she was on the deck of the ship when the sea’s breeze enveloped her. Was he responsible? It seemed that he always was. He had told her before that he would never bring her pain. But he always seemed to bring pain to anyone he knew.
“Sounsyy..†He quietly said to himself. Her question hit him in a soft spot, and Ryanti’s demeanor became rather melancholy and lethargic. He had been thinking about that since he had arrived. How bad it looked. How him approaching her on Thanalan’s sands that day and answering his heart’s calling to challenge someone he looked up to fifteen years ago… might have bit him in the ass. In the most unlikely way possible.
“I fear that you may only accept one kind of answer, a kind I cannot indulge you with.†Ryanti murmured in response to her question, contemplating his words in his mind as they proceeded towards the chambers. He was beginning to feel rather horrible now. He didn’t know how she would take this. “The duel was no test, or obligation of mine. One thing you need to understand is that our unit’s responsibility is to handle extremely sensitive situations that are kept away from the public and even some of the inner layers of our governments. We are the bogey men. We are faced with certain unalienable truths that are sometimes passed off as legend or myth spoken by mother to child at bed time. That keeps us from being able to afford things like, being able to know who we are going to be working with prior to a mission.â€
He audibly sighed, and wiped a hair through his platinum white locks. “You did not know who you were working with until you met us, yeah? We can’t just, know. Not in our world. Someone might find out that we know, or you know. They could sell you out, or kill you. They could go after your family, or whatever and whoever you love and cherish the most. While simultaneously comprising the safety and security of the well-being of Hydealyn’s people. We don’t even know our own Fireteam Leader until we all arrive at the location and time specified. We are expected to just organize and get along. It can unusual, fast, and rough, but we have no choice. It is how we have to do things.â€
He was silent for a moment, before speaking again. The melancholy in his voice was more evident this time. “There are so many big and important factors behind the scenes. My superiors and Sixteen’s superiors. I’m… I’m just an Operative, Sounsyy. Someone who has this as some kind of double life. Someone who chose to accept a proposition brought forth to me because of what I was willing to risk in order to pursue something that I believe in. I don’t… know a lot of the inner workings. I don’t know why people get picked, get chosen for these kinds of assignments. I don’t know where any of my compatriots on this vessel came from, what their stories are or why they got chosen to be on this ship with me. I don’t know why –you- are here either. It was not us that selected you, but your government.â€
He stopped in front of the door leading to his company’s lodgings. But this time, he took a few quick steps to zip in front of Sounsyy and turned around to face her after doing so. He frowned a bit at her for a moment or so, before solemnly reaching into a small pocket that was sewn onto his pectoral. “I am not supposed to show you this, but…†He murmured with the faintest of whispers. “There is nothing on here that you would not already know.â€
What he pulled out appeared to be a small document that had been folded tightly into a square shape and stuffed into his pocket. He glimpsed at it for but a moment, before handing it to her. “This is my dead drop document that explains my orders. This is what we acquire if we choose to accept a mission offered to us by our superiors. We have a slang for them: our ‘manifests’. It is a necessity that we burn them prior to reaching hostile territory. Some of us have formulated the act of burning our manifests as a ritual of good luck. However, we have not burned ours yet. If you do not believe that I had no prior knowledge of you being a part of this mission, see for yourself.â€
With that, Ryanti handed her the manifest.
After doing so, the young man called Seventy-Seven leaned his back against the door of his company’s lodgings, resting his left elbow upon the back side of his right hand, and squeezing his index finger and thumb between his naval cavity where his eyes were, trying to massage the stress away. “Y’know… I said double life. I have a life beyond this, and many people in our unit do. That’s another reason why we use numbers.â€
He sniffed in a harsh breath of air and exhaled it through his mouth, his eyes bloodshot and rather tired as he let out a stifling yawn. “I was not even supposed to fight anyone. I was… sick. Not fully recovered from an ailment unknown to me caused by this very job. It is just yet another factor that we have to face while doing a thankless job for the betterment of the future. You were able to pick up on that, but, I tried not to let that happen.â€
He scratched his shoulder a bit. “I just wanted to face someone I admired fifteen years ago. Now we meet each other again, one a Captain of a Limsan Squadron and one an Operative of a hidden Black Label. I did not want it to be this way. To meet again like this. To meet me as Seventy-Seven before you even got to know me. Perhaps you will have better luck with asking Nymeia why it must be so. She has been silent to me.â€
He placed his hands behind his back and up against the surface of the door, bringing a foot up as well to support himself against it, turning to face her. “.. But it looks like she has been cruel to you too. I’m sorry about your hand. I hope it wasn't my fault.â€
The stars were out tonight. There was not a cloud to be seen. The dark evening sky was like a warm blanket that coated the horizon in a velvet sheet of silver moonlight. The slight scent of salt from the waves below them enveloped Ryanti’s senses; his aquamarine eyes blinked once at the sudden gust that came right after.
The shroud of the evening coated him and Jonathan also. While Jonathan’s features faded into obscurity, Ryanti’s platinum white hair and light skin felt right at home in the evening’s shroud. His keeper genes from his mother perhaps contributed to that. The young man’s snowy locks twirled and braved around his facial features and scalp as a response to the wind.
Before Sounsyy had turned around, Ryanti had leaned himself against the corner of the doorway. He could not help but pause for a moment to observe the tie escape the Captain’s hair. Her brunette hair followed the shape of the wind, and so did his gaze fall upon her. It was the first time he ever saw Sounsyy relaxed. He felt himself hold his breath, for but a moment he asked this beautiful moon tonight to stop moving long enough for him to be able to lose track of time. As there was something else right now more pleasant to his senses than the evening sky.
He felt a light tap on his shoulder by Jonathan’s palm, followed by two quiet chuckles from his superior officer. It only took that much to snap him back into the here and now. Ryanti immediately took a step back from the doorway, now outside and holding the artifact close at hand.
The two men followed her flank, allowing her space and ample time to continue her duties of keeping supervision over her crew. One that was ignorant of the situation would have thought the two men were bodyguards of Sounsyy’s based on how orderly their paces were. They always kept an equal distance from the captain, no matter how quickly or slowly she walked. Jonathan kept his attention on the Captain at all times, but Ryanti found himself eyeing everyone she addressed.
Through the straight by morning? That was an excellent sign. It meant that they would be manuvearing out into the open ocean by daybreak. There was an exciting thought that came from Ryanti; he had never been out in open sea before in this life, and this would be the first time. It will be an adventurous indeed, if the schedule was kept.
But there was no question that tonight was unbelievably beautiful from the decks of the Roehmerl. He could not ask for more than this, and he made a mental note to store the memory.
P’welro looked straight out of a picture book again, Ryanti thought. She would probably smack him upside his head if he told her that. Or smirk. The moonlight’s shroud over her was like that of the Captain’s; a sight that could very well be a gift from the Navigator. Luckily, both men did not miss the image of the moon as it shone through the windows of the next room they arrived at. At once, they followed the Captain down the aft stairs. Both men were quick to pick up on the nature of the room, but why were they stopping here?
Ryanti was the first to find out why, although Jonathan crossed his arms after finding out not too long after Ryanti did. The young Hyqo’te’s memory flashed backwards to the mental image of the Sea Wolf stripping him of his weapons. She had displayed a degree of hesitation in her methods. He knew he was not in a position to try to assume why. He was more occupied with observing Sounsyy’s bare hand that the bandage and gauntlets had kept well hidden. So it was true, her left hand had lost its ring finger.
It stung him. He was unsure whether or not her injury had occurred before or after they met the first time in person. He could not imagine sustaining an injury like losing a finger without it causing a certain degree of emotional toil. Yet here she was, proceeding as if nothing important had happened at all but an infected bruise. At least she flinched, enough to tell Ryanti that she was not invincible. He found himself glancing at all five of his fingers on his left hand. It stung again.
Jonathan did not bother himself with thoughts like these. He had enough to worry about with his own men. He could not afford to worry about the other side of the fence for now. She did not say anything to him about it, so he returned the favor. Though a smile did escape him when Sounsyy dismissed the idea of an extra pair of hands.
Upon following her once more, Ryanti kept his gaze a little longer at the garden the Sea Wolf was watering, mentally noting the kinds of flowers and plants that laid there. It was a better thing to think about than once again witnessing the area in which they first came in and walked themselves right into an ambush by their own allies. Yet the sight of Berasaem cheered him up a bit. He smiled at their approach. Looks like she was doing a good job so far, just like he thought. No fishbacks in sight!
So this was when his Superior left him. Jonathan placed one arm upon his breast and bowed politely to Sounsyy’s statements. “I heavily appreciate your pardon from morning’s bell, Captain. Rest assured that when we wake, my men will be fully rested and ready to work.â€
“Sir.†Ryanti mentioned with a whisper, offering him a parting salute. Jonathan responded with a casual version of their salute – foregoing the leg positions and simply raising his hand affront of his right side and lowering it. Jonathan was almost unnaturally quiet in opening the door – this company was immensely trained in stealth entry after all.
“Yes ma’am.†Ryanti replied to Sounsyy’s wordings, with a quieter and calmer tone. He proceeded to follow her. He was quiet at they reached the galley and mess hall, though Ryanti’s working eyes were as observant as ever. He was impressed at the size, for he did not expect one could create such a large room inside of a ship, especially one that was deemed to be smaller than most warships. Ryanti looked slightly less small in this room, being taller than Sounsyy. He found the snoring noise odd but did not question, choosing to just be quiet and follow the Captain. It seemed to be the wise thing to do.
He waited patiently for Sounsyy to work her way through wherever she needed to go in order to get to a place where this object could be rested. He was pleased at the technique it took to find it. It would take someone unknowledgeable of the whereabouts to go through a rather long and annoying trial to obtain it, and they would still have to open the damn thing. He felt like he should ask to help her, but… he did not figure that was wise either.
“I wouldn’t doubt that their smuggling efforts at least saw some success. This is a good enough spot to place this construct.†He muttered in approval. He got down upon his knees and began to maneuver himself in the semi-awkward realm of positions that could afford him to rest the object down into the hatch without doing any method of harm towards it. A few muffled sounds of stress accompanied this, for it was not exactly the easiest job. But Ryanti did not complain, and he was standing up and dusting off his operative’s suit in no time.
Seventy-Seven crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, crossing his feet as well, so that he was able to tap his toes against the floor of the place as Sounsyy placed them away. While Sounsyy worked, the only time she saw Ryanti glance back at her was once. His expression was neutral, though his ears ever so slightly sunk.
He was beginning to feel rather oppressed at the idea of not being trusted, even though he understood the logic behind it and the reality he was currently facing at the hands of fate that he had been dealt. Still, he was not prepared for her to directly bring up the course of events that happened when they met for the first time. He still remembered that day very keenly.
He blinked and his ears tightened back up to where they normally rested, taking a few steps away from leaning against the wall in order to trail her. His eyes trailed his intuition, and found her gauntlets bending towards the palm of her hand in a slight clenching motion. She was not relaxed anymore, not like she was on the deck of the ship when the sea’s breeze enveloped her. Was he responsible? It seemed that he always was. He had told her before that he would never bring her pain. But he always seemed to bring pain to anyone he knew.
“Sounsyy..†He quietly said to himself. Her question hit him in a soft spot, and Ryanti’s demeanor became rather melancholy and lethargic. He had been thinking about that since he had arrived. How bad it looked. How him approaching her on Thanalan’s sands that day and answering his heart’s calling to challenge someone he looked up to fifteen years ago… might have bit him in the ass. In the most unlikely way possible.
“I fear that you may only accept one kind of answer, a kind I cannot indulge you with.†Ryanti murmured in response to her question, contemplating his words in his mind as they proceeded towards the chambers. He was beginning to feel rather horrible now. He didn’t know how she would take this. “The duel was no test, or obligation of mine. One thing you need to understand is that our unit’s responsibility is to handle extremely sensitive situations that are kept away from the public and even some of the inner layers of our governments. We are the bogey men. We are faced with certain unalienable truths that are sometimes passed off as legend or myth spoken by mother to child at bed time. That keeps us from being able to afford things like, being able to know who we are going to be working with prior to a mission.â€
He audibly sighed, and wiped a hair through his platinum white locks. “You did not know who you were working with until you met us, yeah? We can’t just, know. Not in our world. Someone might find out that we know, or you know. They could sell you out, or kill you. They could go after your family, or whatever and whoever you love and cherish the most. While simultaneously comprising the safety and security of the well-being of Hydealyn’s people. We don’t even know our own Fireteam Leader until we all arrive at the location and time specified. We are expected to just organize and get along. It can unusual, fast, and rough, but we have no choice. It is how we have to do things.â€
He was silent for a moment, before speaking again. The melancholy in his voice was more evident this time. “There are so many big and important factors behind the scenes. My superiors and Sixteen’s superiors. I’m… I’m just an Operative, Sounsyy. Someone who has this as some kind of double life. Someone who chose to accept a proposition brought forth to me because of what I was willing to risk in order to pursue something that I believe in. I don’t… know a lot of the inner workings. I don’t know why people get picked, get chosen for these kinds of assignments. I don’t know where any of my compatriots on this vessel came from, what their stories are or why they got chosen to be on this ship with me. I don’t know why –you- are here either. It was not us that selected you, but your government.â€
He stopped in front of the door leading to his company’s lodgings. But this time, he took a few quick steps to zip in front of Sounsyy and turned around to face her after doing so. He frowned a bit at her for a moment or so, before solemnly reaching into a small pocket that was sewn onto his pectoral. “I am not supposed to show you this, but…†He murmured with the faintest of whispers. “There is nothing on here that you would not already know.â€
What he pulled out appeared to be a small document that had been folded tightly into a square shape and stuffed into his pocket. He glimpsed at it for but a moment, before handing it to her. “This is my dead drop document that explains my orders. This is what we acquire if we choose to accept a mission offered to us by our superiors. We have a slang for them: our ‘manifests’. It is a necessity that we burn them prior to reaching hostile territory. Some of us have formulated the act of burning our manifests as a ritual of good luck. However, we have not burned ours yet. If you do not believe that I had no prior knowledge of you being a part of this mission, see for yourself.â€
With that, Ryanti handed her the manifest.
After doing so, the young man called Seventy-Seven leaned his back against the door of his company’s lodgings, resting his left elbow upon the back side of his right hand, and squeezing his index finger and thumb between his naval cavity where his eyes were, trying to massage the stress away. “Y’know… I said double life. I have a life beyond this, and many people in our unit do. That’s another reason why we use numbers.â€
He sniffed in a harsh breath of air and exhaled it through his mouth, his eyes bloodshot and rather tired as he let out a stifling yawn. “I was not even supposed to fight anyone. I was… sick. Not fully recovered from an ailment unknown to me caused by this very job. It is just yet another factor that we have to face while doing a thankless job for the betterment of the future. You were able to pick up on that, but, I tried not to let that happen.â€
He scratched his shoulder a bit. “I just wanted to face someone I admired fifteen years ago. Now we meet each other again, one a Captain of a Limsan Squadron and one an Operative of a hidden Black Label. I did not want it to be this way. To meet again like this. To meet me as Seventy-Seven before you even got to know me. Perhaps you will have better luck with asking Nymeia why it must be so. She has been silent to me.â€
He placed his hands behind his back and up against the surface of the door, bringing a foot up as well to support himself against it, turning to face her. “.. But it looks like she has been cruel to you too. I’m sorry about your hand. I hope it wasn't my fault.â€