Innocence and Avarice [closed]

[Goodfellow]

Styrm's hand cracked like thunder once against his knee and he rolled back.

 

"'Ey, some'un looks mighty pleased with 'erself, she does!  But when yer right, yer right," he said with a shake of his head.  "Aye, an' the second name's almost the same.  Swap yer Os fer As.  Ye can write 'er out later."  He grinned broadly and his words took on a sort of slow and heavy thickness. 

 

"Now," he said, his hand against his chest, "ye'll spell mine."

[Zhavi]

Zhi jerked her chin upwards at him, grinning like a fool. "Big lad like yerself? I think I can handle it, hey?" Grease pencil clenched in one fist, she brought her hands up and jabbed a few times in the space between them. "Oy, oy, lay't on me. What was it again? Chocobo?" She switched her grip on the pencil, pointed it towards his face as if it was a knife and she planned to stick him with it.

 

For that moment, for that breath of time, she was just Zhi.

[Goodfellow]

Styrm's smile grew wider, toothier.  His shoulders pulled back and his chest swelled proudly.  His voice deepened and became more guttural, almost a growl, but with no malice.  He spoke only two words, but they were long and thick with consonants and intention.

 

"Styrmsthal Tyrbsyn."

[Zhavi]

Aaaaand moment gone.

 

Zhi's face puckered up, the pencil slowly retracted and then lowered to the paper. She hadn't given up just yet, but there was certainly some bit of wariness about her. She mouthed the first syllable of his name a few times. Her lower lip protruded. Defeat loomed, but she would not cave in so easily! ". . .Z?"

[Goodfellow]

Styrm didn't frown or deflate.  "Not quite, Jozzie.  'S like I said, us Roegadyns've got tough'uns," he repeated, his smile maintained but his voice more neutral, less gruff.  "Can' expec' t'get 'em right the firs' go 'round, nah."  And then, with a conspiratorial tone, "I'll give ye a hint: mine's got no Zs."

[Zhavi]

Zhi was deflating. It wasn't overtly obvious, but should Styrm take a close look at her, it would be apparent. "I ain't got no notion o' what it starts with." Her voice was grudging.

[Goodfellow]

If she didn't know, she didn't know.  He flipped the page and pointed to a letter.

 

"'Is'un 'ere?  She's S; looks like a back'ards Z, but sof'er.  She hisses: sssss.  'Styrmsthal' starts with 'er."

[Zhavi]

Language was strange, writing even moreso. It would do no good to question why there must be two letters for essentially the same sound, so Zhi studied the page rather than grouse about how stupid it was -- no matter how much she wanted to. S. Like Z, but backwards and softer. She muttered the letter to herself as she wrote it down carefully, and then added a T immediately after. Then she went back to muttering his name, and wrote down an E and then R, in rapid succession.

[Goodfellow]

Styrm watched her write.  He nodded as she painstakingly traced the S, seemingly committing it to memory.  He nodded once more, and smiled, as she appended the T.  As she quickly continued to E and R he cleared his throat to halt her advance.

 

"'At third'un there, E, 's not quite right."  He turned more fully towards the girl and motioned for her to look at him.

 

"Watch me mouth, an' listen.  Really listen.  E goes like so: eeehh.  Or ee here an' there.  Me name, an' loads o' roegadyn words, use a longer sound."  The edges of his mouth stretched back into a squinty exaggeration of a smile.  "Eeeee," he droned.  "'At's 'ow Y sounds."  He flipped back to the last page of the alphabet.  "Right 'ere, Y," he said, tapping lightly on the second to last letter.

 

"Jus' before the Z."

[Zhavi]

Dutiful even until the bitter end (was it even close to the end?), Zhi crossed out the E and wrote in the Y, wondering why unnecessary letters kept showing up. Were there more? How did people keep them separate from each other?

 

M was next. She hesitated, then slowly drew a S, peeking up at Styrm to see, by his body language, if it was the right one. T, A, and L followed, the letters looking mutilated in Zhi's penmanship. She looked up, grinning.

[Goodfellow]

Styrm nodded once as she shot a glance at him after each letter.

 

S.  Nod.  T.  Nod.  A...

 

"Eh, hold up a tick, Jozzie.  Ye missed a letter.  'Tween T an' A 'ere's an H.  Listen: Styrmsthhhal.  Hear it?  Hhh..."  With a smirk and a wink he added, "'S a heavy name, ye've gotta breathe in the middle."  He added more, and quickly, with a wave of his hand and a gentler smile on his lips, "All the rest's good, though."

 

His hand continued over to ruffle Joz's hair.

[Zhavi]

The grin faded.

 

"Yer feckin' wi' me," she said, jerking her head back as his hand landed. Not enough to dislodge it, however. Her ears went sideways, and she glowered up at him from under it. "All yer doin' is breathin'. Hhh? There's a letter fer breathin' now, too?"

[Goodfellow]

Styrm cocked his head in an exaggerated pantomime of Taru and stated, "'Ells, all th'letters are a sort o' breathin', ain't they?"

[Zhavi]

Zhi muttered something impolite, waving her hand to dismiss her previous words. Grudgingly. "Fair, fair. We done wi' that name or are there more letters hidin' about its' tail?"

 

She caught the pantomime, and narrowed her eyes at him as if trying to decide what his purpose was.

[Goodfellow]

"I got two, girlie," he grumbled good-naturedly in response.  He raised one finger.  "Styrmsthal," he said, "and Tyrbsyn."  He raised a second finger.

[Zhavi]

Zhi rolled her eyes. She grumbled something under her breath, T, Y, and R appearing on the page in barely legible script. The next letter, however, she balked at. She looked up. "Don't know th'next -- 'less there was another one o' yer breathin' letters 'twixt those." She tapped her pencil against the first three she'd written, expression and tone of voice as smarmy as could be.

[Goodfellow]

"Nah," he responded with a grin, "no breathin' 'ere; 's jus' the first'un.  As fer the other'un, she's up 'ere near the front."  He turned to the first page and tapped on the B.

 

"Right 'ere, letter number two.  She's called B an' she says buh, buh, buh."

[Zhavi]

B was written, if shakily, but she balked on the next one. She sighed. "'Sit th'curvy one, or the one wi' angles? Swear, could take half o'these out an' still do jes fine. What's th'need fer so many what sound near th'same?"

 

And there it was, the complaint she'd ever-so-patiently been holding.

[Goodfellow]

"Pfff," Styrm barked.  "'At's cause ye don't know half 'em, Jozzie.  An' once ye do, may decide 'ere's a few more t'yer likin', ye may."  He shrugged and added, "'Sides, 's the loopy one what hisses."

[Zhavi]

"Not if they're all th' same but fer a few bitsy differences," Zhi muttered, rebellious. She wrote S, hesitated over Y before writing it with a stubborn little grimace, and ended it with N. She flicked the paper towards him, leaning back. "Yer name's too long." She tilted her head at him, eyeing him as if she was unsure of what he wanted from her before looking back down to the book. "Who else've I t'meet, then?"

[Goodfellow]

The roegadyn's stomach chose that moment to rumble.  Styrm moaned in a low tone and looked to the window.  The day had advanced significantly and, his professorial reverie momentarily broken, he began to feel the absence of food and alcohol.

 

"Ye'll 'ave t'tell me.  Keep the book, 's yers, an' keep writin' words an' names what got the letters ye are knowin'.  I'll be back by tomorrow an' if ye've got a grasp on 'em, I'll learn ye the rest an' we can watch Taru's socks jump right the 'ells off 'im!" he said, closing with a wink.  "But jus' now I'm off.  Be needin' anythin' 'fore tomorrow?" he asked as he rose slowly up from the floor.

[Zhavi]

Reality came back. Zhi looked up, then quickly back down at the book. "Yeah, how 'bout some letters what make sense?" She forced a grin, "I got what I'm needin'. See ye tomorrow then, aye?"

[Goodfellow]

Styrm smiled and nodded.  "Aye, ye'll see me tomorrow.  'Til then, Jozzie," he closed with a wave and then hopped out the window.  Instead of climbing over to the level above, he descended to the alley below and walked out into the wider street in front of the building.  He paused and looked around, sniffing at the air, hunger, thirst, and indecision driving and holding him.

 

"Hm..."

[Zhavi]

Zhi lifted her hand in farewell, surprised at the suddenness of his exit. But, then again, she was hungry too. Hungry and . . . given more time then she'd expected. She knew she'd need to study the letters in the book before the next day, but she also knew that time was running out and she had to make quick use of it. Who else did she have left to contact?

 

It was still light out. Most of her contacts were daytrippers. She'd need to check in on Rurutani, eventually -- from what she'd heard, he'd come to town. But before that, she had to ensure things were properly set up.

 

She pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes and stood up. She'd get some stuff done, and then she'd come back to study her letters, get a few hours of sleep, and be ready once Chocobo returned. She couldn't help a snort of laughter at the thought -- she enjoyed his company far more then she thought she would've.

 

The laughter cut off. No. She had to watch for that. It was dangerous to find someone's company enjoyable when you were planning on betraying them.

 

Mood cooled, she carefully poked her head out the window, looking for anyone who might tail her. Paranoia, at this juncture, was key. She didn't see anyone -- maybe good or bad -- so she perched on the edge of the sill and pulled herself back up to the roof. She was careful, keeping an eye and an ear out on her surroundings like she always did, as she climbed up and out of the reach.

 

But she was also tired.

 

Sometimes, tired people make mistakes.

 

But one way or another, she'd get everything done and be back in the little room before Styrm returned the following day.

[Goodfellow]

Where to, where to? Styrm thought.  Why hadn't he asked Jozzie?  Hells, why didn't he just see if she wanted to go too?

 

With that thought he climbed back up to the window and entered the room once again only to find it vacant.  He exited the window once again and ascended to the rooftop to try to catch her before she'd run too far off.  Then, with or without her, he was going to eat.

 

And drink, like as not.