paixaorpg | Jobs, or something close to [active]

Entry tags:

Jobs, or something close to [active]

Character(s): Cid and Natalia
Content: A job offer, or something suitably close to it
Setting: Cid's Shop
Time: It's hard to tell, when there isn't a sun
Warnings: Cid

A job. He'd offered a stranger a job. Hell, he'd done a good enough job running the place by himself. And okay, so maybe he didn't know what half the things in the place were, despite having had plenty of time to figure it out. But still, he was doing an okay job by and large. Mostly.

But what was said was said and damned if he was going to back out now. He had the easy part of it anyway: wait until this person (whose name he'd never bothered to ask) showed up to talk to him. And as per standard Cid operating waiting procedures, that meant working more on his constant, ongoing projects that he kept in the back room. Sooner or later he'd manage something that could fly. Or end up back home. But for now, he would wait.

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Even with the map it took a bit of stumbling for Natalia to find her way to Cid's shop, and like Cid, it was only when she was in front of his store did she realize that she never even asked his name. Taking a deep breath, though, this was her first step in becoming an independent woman instead of a spoiled princess who was waited on day and night. Entering the store, she saw it was lightly illuminated after she closed the door, and made her way to where Cid was, giving him a bow. "Would you be the gentleman I was speaking with on the message board, sir?"

Finding the shop might not have been easy, but finding Cid was easy enough. All one had to do was follow the steady stream of grumbling, thumping, and assorted swearing that went along with Cid trying to fix some bit of machinery or another.

In this case, an engine. Best to get the heart of the thing fixed up before trying to get it to do anything. People couldn't live without a heart, and an airship couldn't fly without an engine.

But after a moment or three, the fact that he'd been spoken to managed to work it's way past the complaints.

"I ain't a goddamned 'sir'," he answered, finally setting down his tools and looking up. "But I was the one speaking to you."

Slightly deterred by Cid's fairly gruff manner of speaking, Natalia gasped a little but took a deep breath, and gave him another smile. She had to get used to not being around those who would respect her as a princess, after all, if she were to assimilate into society well. "My apologies, then. How shall I address you then? Boss? Master?" She smiled, tilting her head in a manner showing she was genuinely curious about which he preferred. "Or rather, I should introduce myself, first." After all, it was best to be polite. "My name is Natalia. It's a pleasure meeting your acquaintance."

"Cid," he answered. "Just like the sign says. Or Captain, if you really want."

He wouldn't mention the fact about there having (apparently) been a Cid-in-residence before he ever showed up to the place. It was far too odd to bring up in casual conversation. Or not-so-casual conversation. Or conversation at all, although this hadn't stopped other people from bringing it up. But hell, a guy could get lucky sometimes.

"Nice to meet you too," he added after a slight moment's pause.

"Very well then, Captain Cid." Natalia bowed once again. That would have made sense considering the sign, but Natalia decided to not dwell on that fact. The fact of the matter was that right now she knew his name, and she was going to address him as so."

"This store is full of lovely items." She thought aloud, walking over to the shelves seeing many of the things she was unfamiliar with, not daring to touch them. Turning to Cid, she tilted her head once more. "Do these have price tags or anything like that, Captain?" She asked. If she was going to help sell these objects, it would have been prudent to know their value so she wasn't giving them away practically for free.

'Captain Cid'. Now didn't that take him back. Whether or not that was a good thing... well. He could figure that out later. Possibly much later.

"Price tags? Hell, I don't what half of 'em do. 'Sides, the damned system makes it hard to have a consistent baseline anyway, so I figure they know what something's worth better than do. For the shit I don't understand anyway. Some of 'em I know, an' that's when it gets interesting."

See also: the aforementioned system, full of awkwardness, inconvenience, and bartering. As far as Cid saw it anyway.

"I see. Would it be all right if I tinkered around with a few of them, then?" She asked. "It seems similar to the fontech from my world, though I'm not an expert on that, either. But in any case, I'd be more than happy to help out, if you'd have me, Captain." Her resolve was fairly evident in her face, which held a polite air about her as well as a certain kind of regal determination. "How often would you like for me to come in then, Captain?"

"Go right ahead, as long as you don't touch that over there. But what the fuck's a 'fontech'?"

'That' being a spear hanging next to the door to the back room he'd been tinkering with the engine in. His spear, and one of the very few things he'd been lucky enough to have with him in a place where monsters seemed to be so damned frequent.

"And hell, whenever you want is fine by me."

Needless to say he was not the most natural of choices for a shopkeeper.

"in the world I'm from, 'fontech' utilizes the energy within our atmosphere known as 'fonons'; well, technically, everything is made up of fonons, but the Planet Storm charged these things up so that fonic artes and fontech could be used." Natalia explained. "However, we stopped the Planet Storm, so fontech and fonic artes were in declined... however, here, I am able to use my healing artes just fine, oddly enough."

Taking note of the spear Cid pointed at, Natalia nodded. It must have held special meaning to him, so she made sure to make a mental note to not touch it or otherwise disrupt it.

"In that case, would there be store records and accounting reports?" Natalia asked. From the little she seen of Cid, she realized that perhaps he wasn't the type to take care of that sort of thing. "If you wish, in addition to selling things I will also be open to taking care of all of those things as well."

"Hard to keep an accounting book when there ain't a constant system," Cid answered. "Everyone's got a different way of payin' for things."

It wasn't like two shiny things was twice the worth of one shiny thing. Not from what little he'd managed to find out about the system. Then again, you had any number of people from a shitload of worlds. It made sense that the monetary system would be a little funny. Or nonexistent.

Besides, this whole 'fontech' thing sounded more interesting anyway.

"Sounds kind of like the Lifestream. Only we don't use it to make things run."

"I see; that certainly does pose an issue." Natalia pondered, wondering in her mind how such an unstable economy could have survived for so long. However, putting that aside, Cid did seem to light up at the talk of technology. She was by no means Guy or anything like that, but she did have a basic grasp of what it was.

"I see, so in your world there's the Lifestream." Natalia repeated aloud, to make sure she heard correctly. "It does indeed seem like the two systems are similar. Ever since we halted the Planet Storm, however, we've had to find alternative energy sources, which we were still in the process of when I arrived here in Paixao. Perhaps if Paixao has an energy source, if I ever return home I could use that knowledge to help my pe- aa, help everybody." Natalia caught herself.

It wasn't that she was trying to keep it a secret or anything, but it wasn't like she wanted to show off her status, either. She was here for a job to live as an ordinary person without her responsibilities, after all.

Luckily enough for her, Cid completely missed the momentary slip.

"City usually runs on electricity, same as we do back home. Been working on fixing up an engine to see what I can make with it, but I simply ain't got a whole lot of what I'd like to have. Making anything decent's gonna take a shitload of metal."

And he wasn't really sure he'd be able to manage a decent ship out of what he had. But hell, he could certainly try.

"Metal, is that right?" Natalia once again made a mental note of that. "Several of these objects seem to be made of a material not available in my world, but once the light comes on outside I'll be sure to keep that in mind so that I may be able to help you. Riding on an airship sounds wonderful! I've ridden on an aircraft called the Albiore II, though it depended on a flight stone." She commented.

"You must have been an extraordinary person in your home world if you were responsible for flying an aircraft. What was the name of your airship, if I may ask?"

"That's the one," Cid answered with a grin. How well it would work entirely depended on how well he could get into shape and if he could find something to weld with but hell. He could deal with that when it came up.

"I called her the Highwind. Damned good ship if I say so myself. Built the Shera after she finally broke down."

And neither one was here, unfortunately. They wouldn't have fit through the gates if they had been.

"Those are lovely names." Natalia said. She could tell that being a pilot meant a great deal to Cid, which she found to be... well, he almost seemed a bit boyish when he was talking about it, to her. When putting that in mind, she couldn't fault him for his behavior the rest of the time. After all, if she were stuck in this place without the means of realizing her dreams...

... her dreams. She had no dreams, aside from fulfilling her duty as the crown princess of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, and even now, she was enjoying being able to escape from that responsibility...!

Sighing, a dubious smile formed from her lips as she continued gazing at the various objects on the shelves. "In that case, I'll come in tomorrow to begin." She stated. "I'll be sure to work very hard, Captain Cid!"

Not just being able to be a pilot, although that was certainly a part of it. Being able to get off the ground, feeling a good ship (that he may have had a hand in building) underneath him... those were the things that made him happy. The rest of the time he fell back to the sort of sullen grumpiness that Natalie had seen when she arrived.

There was a nice enough heart under there though. You just had to know how to see it.

"Right. I'll be here, same as always."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Captain Cid!" Natalia bowed once again, giving him a sincere smile.

With that, careful to not touch the spear, Natalia made her way to the exit and gave him one last glance. It wouldn't be that bad keeping him company once in a while helping out with the store, would it? Of course, there were still other things she had to take care of, such as meeting with Luke, but... if she was going to be staying here in Paixao for a while, the least she could do was make herself useful.

With that, the door shut, and Natalia was no longer in the store.

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