A couple weeks later...
In what was certainly a rare occurrence in the compressed shack-slash-library, Gogonji's desk was almost completely cleared of the text and tomes that dominated the living space. Replacing them, however, were instead large swaths of parchment scattered about almost as random as the books had been. Several more lay crumpled up into crinkly little balls at the foot of his chair, the failed formulae and conceptual designs still quite fresh on their deformed surfaces beneath angry strikeouts and the smearing of still wet ink. The writer and subsequent discard-er of the computations himself was bent over his latest indecipherable aggregate of numbers and symbols.
For the briefest of moments, an irate violet eye flitted to the discarded trash and let out a disdainful harrumph as fresh memories arose unbidden to his mind. The Lalafell's perturbed gaze quickly returned to the Soul Crystal that still rested steadfast upon its tiny podium, glittering faintly in the lantern-light. If the stone itself had something to say about Gogonji's rising frustrations, it remained tactfully silent about it.
"Fools," the eldest Gegenji child muttered, staring sharply into the facets of the crystal as if his gaze alone could unlock the secrets hidden within its vitrified depths. He didn't even peel his gaze away from it when his Fairy Ezra flitted to his side, bearing a mug of hot tea she had freshly brewed for him in the hearth. His simply took the proffered drink without even a glance her way, setting himself to immediately drum his fingers along its ceramic surface before speaking again: "Utter fools."
They hadn't understood. Of course they hadn't. That... that Cid may be hailed as a mechanical genius, but he had no vision, not to mention apparently much less creativity as he was toted as having, and next to no business savvy. The latter was the most obvious, seeing as he had come across the Ironworks as they were in the beginnings of a discussion to start mass-producing chintzy Magitek armor replicas for deep-pocketed adventurers in order to stave off the threat of bankruptcy. Any possible chance for the company to progress and expand was being utterly stymied by the fool's penchant for adventuring over advancement.
As such, when Gogonji had deigned to approach them - which was quite the effort in and of itself, considering his discomfort around people in general - with his still-fledgling concept to amplify the resonance ratio between Soul Crystal and wielder using ceruleum and more advanced magiteknology, he had been simply... waved away. Waved away. Like some common base-learned dullard with a half-assed idea for a better mousetrap rather than a visionary with plans to improve Eorzea, nay, Hydaelyn itself! Just remembering the dismissal caused his temper to flare up again and his grip to tighten on the mug, which had the unintended side-effect of sending the contents sloshing up and over the lip to splatter onto his white-knuckled fingers.
"Chikusho!" he hissed, jerking sharply away from the offending cup and letting it thud solidly onto the the hardwood floor beneath him. It spun and whirled with an obnoxious grinding of ceramic on wood as it hurled its piping hot contents every which way, soaking into the discarded documents or leaving little sizzling pools of tea where it managed to successfully reach the floor itself. Ezra was at his side in an instant, chiming and jingling in alarm as she worriedly circled his head. Gogonji had no idea what she was actually saying - a fact he was loathe to admit, even to himself - but he could guess her intent easily enough.
"I'm fine," he snapped, shaking his hands out as if doing so would cast away the sharp bites of pain that still lingered in his fingers. Ezra, however, continued her insistent litany of worried bell-like noises as she flitted down to inspect his hands. Her glow brightened some as she sought to tend to the light burns with a gentle Embrace of healing aether, her chiming becoming almost a gentle cooing noise. Gogonji in his ire, however, would have none of it and yanked his hands away from her light touch as if too sought to burn him. "I said I'm fine!"
Ezra skittered away at the harsh tone, retreating to a kind of safety behind the illustrious Soul Crystal and its little dais. And it was as she retreated, as Gogonji saw her escaping form that those harsh violet eyes... suddenly softened. His frown lost its outward edge and instead turned inward, transmogrified into a look of stout disapproval at his own actions rather than the Fairy's. A short snort of a sigh escaped from his nostrils and the Lalafell let both his hands and his gaze drop weakly into his lap.
"I..."
The Fairy peered timidly over the stone.
"I-I'm sorry, Ezra." The hatred and disdain had all but evaporated from the eldest Gegenji's tone, replaced instead with a sort of listless sorrow. "I'm... I'm not mad at you. Never you."
Ezra stared apprehensively at her master for what felt like several long seconds before she flitted back over to him, landing gently on his thigh. Once more she brightened with aetheric energy and, this time, Gogonji made no move to stop her as she smoothed away the burns under her healing touch. She smiled up with him with her little smile once she was done, then pantomimed drinking something eloquently with tiny pinky outstretched.
"Y-yes, more tea would be lovely," Gogonji admitted as the weakest of smiles creased his lips. "Th-thank you, Ezra."
His gaze remained downcast as she took to the air again, to flit to the floor and reclaim the fallen mug before heading off to refill it with a fresh helping of Galago Mint tea. It was only as she rounded the counter of one of the many bookshelves that the Lalafell's gaze lifted to the point at which she departed. His violet eyes reflected dully in the light from the desktop lantern, shimmering weakly and forlornly. He truly hadn't mean to raise his voice at her as he had, and just thinking about it caused a nervous knot to form in his gut.
"I'm sorry..." he repeated weakly, even though he knew the Fairy was too far away now to hear it. His second apology was followed by a fierce shaking of his head, trying to forcefully dispel the cobwebs and gloom that roosted within. With a deep breath, he turned his attentions back to the diagrams and formulae that still lay unfinished upon the sheets of parchment. He was once again deep within his numbers and theories when Ezra returned with the fresh cup of tea. When she jingled lightly to get his attention, he harrumphed and made a dismissive wave of his hand.
Ezra canted her little head, then settled the mug down on the table - well within reach, but just far enough away that Gogonji wouldn't knock it over during his calculations. With a little chime, she flitted to his head and gently patted a section of the Lalafell's meticulously kept jade-hued hair, which elicited another wordless grunt of dismissal. The Fairy looked at her master for a moment, then tinkled with light laughter and gave him one more pat for good luck before going to look for something to help in cleaning up the mess of crumpled papers and discarded tea. It was only once she was gone again that the eldest Gegenji seemed to notice the fresh mug of tea out of the corner of his eyes.
Gogonji's hand stilled, and he settled the quill down carefully back in its ink pot, the equation still half-finished. He tentatively reached for the cup, hesitating once before wrapping a hand around it and drawing it closer. Slowly, the Lalafell drank deep of the mug's contents, letting its warmth and crisp flavor warm his bones and soothe his nerves. By the time Ezra returned with the tiniest rag she could find, the mug was back in the spot where she had left it; drained dry.
Ezra made the best tea.
~