paixaorpg | Friends in Strange Places [Complete]

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Friends in Strange Places [Complete]

Character(s): Cid and Alice
Content: While strolling about, Alice encounters a certain grouchy pilot.
Setting: Cid's shop
Time: Afternoon, Week 37
Warnings: None.

She needed something more to do than wander. She'd been to the library, and the museum, but ever since she'd moved out of the Mad Hatter's place of residence, she'd felt more restless. She'd chalked it up to the nightmares, of course - and indeed, that was part of the problem. But idle hands were the devil's workshop, and as easy as it was to simply gather the jeweled leaves from the trees in order to pay for things, Alice found herself wanting a purpose. It didn't have to be much; following her delusions took up a lot of her time, after all. But one thing was certain: she needed to do something with herself, before her boredom caused more trouble than her insanity did.

It was an exaggeration, naturally, but Alice rolled her eyes at her silly thoughts as she absently wandered into a shop she'd never seen before. What odd machines there were in here! And such weapons! But what could possibly be the need for it? Never mind that, as always, Alice kept her knife in her apron pocket, just in case (although she trembled inwardly at the thought of actually having to use the blasted thing) - these weapons seemed a bit otherworldly. But perhaps this was the new Wonderland Bumby had told Alice to allow emergence - and despite the initial fright of the pollution which had corrupted Wonderland and set her own mind to ruin, Alice hadn't been particularly sorry to find herself here instead.

With such runaway thoughts occupying her mind, the Londoner slowly walked the store, looking around in idle fascination at the strange gadgets she'd found herself surrounded by.

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Need didn't really have anything to do with it. Cid had inherited the shop upon first arriving to the city, courtesy of some other Cid who'd been there. As a result, what the store had initially carried had already been somewhat eclectic. Cid's own acquisitions for the store in turn hadn't really done much save make the collection even more bizarre. And if that meant that people didn't really come in very often, it was fine by him. He didn't make much of a shopkeep anyway.

Not that he was going to ignore the sounds of someone wandering around his shop. He might not have much of an idea what to do with a shop, but he wasn't going to go so far as to be actually rude. For all his many and various faults he knew better than that much.

"Finding anything interesting?" he asked, as he stepped out into the store proper.

At the sound of what was certainly the store owner, Alice looked up from the latest whatsis she was glancing at. "Lots of things, actually," she responded, quite interested in the eclectic collection the store had. "What is all this?" She recognized the weapons when she saw them, at least, but several of the various other things around her, especially given that much of it was far more advanced than the Victorian technology in her own world. "I've never seen anything like it."

She knew, at least, that they were machines, or machine parts of some kind. Perhaps it was the fact that women being near machinery (aside from riding a train or the like) was generally frowned upon back home, but she wasn't there now, and so could do as she liked. It was all rather freeing.

Well, now that was quite the question. Oh, he could've quite happily explained the function of everything in the store, but that would only have ended in him spending far too long explaining and he was pretty damned sure this latest customer was going to set still that long. So he'd run up the abridged version, so to speak. With any luck that would still manage to answer enough of her questions without keeping her far too long.

"A lot 'f different things, really," he answered with a shrug. "Most of it's for fixing things, or spare parts." The kind that the natives never seemed to either need or care to want, but hell. That wasn't any kind of a reason not to stop selling the things.

If Alice was interested before, she was even more so now. "Spare parts?" she repeated, giving the shelves another glance. "To what?" She thought they might be bits of engines, perhaps, or maybe factory parts, but damned if she knew anything about machinery. "And what about the weapons? I assume they're to guard against the creatures said to be running around the city?" That made sense, at least, although Alice couldn't remember the assault she'd suffered at the hands of the Heartless - all she knew was that she'd blacked out yet again and awoke in a strange bedroom some time later with scratches and bruises. Naturally, she'd left as soon as she was able, but she vaguely wondered just what had happened.

Alice's knife was certainly serviceable enough, but if there truly was a threat, perhaps that alone wouldn't cut it. Besides, this was all a dream, wasn't it? She may as well be able to do something. The Londoner stepped a few paces to the left and examined the weapons, all various kinds in good conditions. Perhaps she ought to pick one up while she was here...

Another good question. Most people were pretty content to just have the stuff, and didn't really bother to care about anything other than the few things they happened to to need. But hell, he figured if she wanted to know so bad he might as well explain. It wasn't like he hadn't had to a time or two before. "Those ones are for engines," he began, nodding at the shelves in question. "Got a few bits that are for the trains running around here, a couple more for what might go to airships, a whole lot of stuff for motorcycles and... I think that one's a box of stuff for gummi ships."

Not that he really had much of an idea of what gummi ships were, but the box of what could dubiously be called parts had come with the shop and just on the off chance that someone actually wanted them he'd pretty much figured he might as well keep them out were people could see. Y'know, just in case. "You're right on the weapons, though. The place ain't exactly safe."

At Cid's explanation, all Alice could do for a few moments was raise an eyebrow. Words like "airships" and "motorcycles" were completely new to her. She wondered if there were any books on the subject she could read; it would give her something else to do besides wander and fret and occasionally scream at things madly. But at the least, she knew trains, and she knew what engines were, at least. "What on Earth is a gummi ship?" she asked, eyebrow still raised. Whatever it was, it frankly sounded ridiculous - but she'd heard worse.

"So I've noticed," she replied, remembering the bruises and scratches she'd been left with from... whatever had happened to her. She couldn't remember, but the thin, pale scars across her forearm - claw marks, she thought - told her it was real. She never scarred in Wonderland.

"Hell if I know," Cid answered with a shrug. "The stuff came with the store, and the last guy to have it didn't exactly leave instructions on 'em." So really, all Cid had to go on was the odd shape of the things that looked more like really bizarre forms of candy than anything he'd trust in either the sea or the sky. If there was a world out there that actually used the things, then there was a stranger world out there than even he really wanted to spend a lot of time thinking about.

"It ain't something a lot of people come in for, but hell, I've got the things. Might as well try an' sell 'em."

"How curious," remarked Alice as she moved over to the box in order to peer inside. She didn't know much about engines or engine parts, but the whole thing looked rather more like children's toys than something one would find in a machine. "I wonder if anyone does know." Despite her usually withdrawn attitude, she found herself growing more interested in this strange place. Reaching into the box, she noted that some pieces were stuck together, as if by glue. On a whim, she picked up another block, curiously holding it to the ones she had in her hand, and oddly enough it stuck.

The dark-haired young woman turned back to Cid to show him what she'd done, then carefully pulled the blocks apart. "It looks like they would be quite useful, if one could figure out how to use them," she told him. "I wonder if they're watertight."

Curious was about the right term for them, yeah. After all, Cid certainly wouldn't have thought anything useful could have come from a box full of technicolor blocks of Bahamut knew what. Still, he supposed what Alice had just figured out could be useful, if he could ever figure out who used the damn things in the first place. Which so far was shaping up to absolutely no one.

"How the hell should I know," Cid grumbled back. "For all I know the things could end up melting."

"You haven't tested them at all?" Alice inquired, holding them up and carefully peeling them apart before putting them back together in a different fashion. There seemed to be no strain to it at all; though the blocks stuck together securely, all it took was one good tug and they were apart again. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be any damage from toying around with it. "It seems sturdy enough."

She wondered if anyone else had asked about these things. Maybe someone in the city knew what they might be.

"Why in all of Ifrit's nine hell would I test something that looked like a box full of misshapen candy," Cid shot back. "I got my hands full with making sure the damned rest of the shop is in good workin' order."

Well, that and his own projects, but that wasn't really anything that needed to get mentioned. Any shopkeeper had to have something to keep busy with during the down time, he figured. And his was at least something that he could be sure he'd have the right parts for, given what the shop sold. He just had to make sure he put in some amount of payment for it first. He might be the shopkeeper, but that didn't mean it was right for him to get things for free, even if there wasn't really much of a monetary system in place.

"Discovery, perhaps?" came the reply, Alice raising an eyebrow. But she thought she understood what Cid was talking about; she was often too busy with her sessions with Dr. Bumby and the work he'd given her, to pay much attention to anything else. But here, she could do as she liked, so long as she didn't go outside of the city (although the reports of people being experimented on made her uneasy).

She fiddled a bit more with the blocks in her hands, noting that however much she pulled them apart and fit them together, there seemed to be no wear or tear, and they always fit together just as easily as they always had been. Setting them back in the box at last, she glanced at the weapons. She'd never seen some of them before, but a few of them looked as though they had good reach. "How often do people come under attack in here?" she asked. It really did seem dangerous here, and her knife alone certainly wouldn't cut it.

Discovery? Hell, who had the time for that anymore? Not that it wasn't a good idea. It was! It was just the sort of good idea that would have taken a whole hell of lot more time then there actually was in the day. He was already finding bits and pieces of things he couldn't entirely explain on a semi-regular basis and if he spent the time to figure each one out he'd have no time left to actually keep the store running. So that got left by the wayside and he put them out all the same in the hopes that someone would notice someday.

"In the shop or in the city?" The city itself was dangerous enough that he'd never had to explain why he kept a spear in the back of the shop. The shop itself, however, was a place he wasn't going to tolerate any amount of fighting in, even it meant hauling Venus Gospel out to break the fight up.

"The city, of course," replied Alice as she quirked an eyebrow. "The shop is included, of course." She'd come under attack herself - at least she thought so. Why else would she have those scars? But Alice had mostly been unable to remember what had happened that day. She'd remembered the shadows, and the pain, but what else? Surely there had to be more.

Oh, well. She supposed it didn't matter. It was over and done with, and she survived. What else did she need? The past was over.

Of course the shop would be included in the city. It was in the city and really, he couldn't entirely guess at what she was thinking and after Yorda he'd decided that maybe - just maybe - it would be good to be be really clear on things sometimes. There were some damned weird worlds out there and he wasn't going to be able to predict everything that people were gonna come in thinking of.

"No one's ever complained about me keepin' a weapon in th' back, if that's what you meant."

Alice nodded. "Then perhaps it would be a good idea for me to learn one of these. I've got my butcher knife, but being able to use another weapon wouldn't hurt." She moved to examine the weapons, considering them. Unlike in Wonderland, she was able to tire and bleed, something which troubled her, much like fighting did (though she'd done her best to put it from her mind). Still, she didn't really care, not that much.

"And what kinds of weapons are these?" Most of them seemed somewhat unfamiliar to Alice, who'd rarely been near actual weapons in her life - she'd seen a few swords from Japan in Radcliffe's office, but little more than that, unless one counted the butcher knife she always kept on her person.

A butcher knife, was it? No there was something you didn't hear every day, although Cid would be one of the first to admit that it worked. It wouldn't have half the range you could get with other weapons, but hell. If it was what you had then it was you used.

"Depends a little on where you're lookin'," he answered. "Got some guns, a whole bunch of swords, I think that one might be a bow and I think I've got a couple knives if you want 'em. Only spear in the store is mine, though, so don't think you can take that one." He'd gone to too much trouble to get that one to let some uppity kid walk off with it, after all.

Unfamiliar with guns as she was, Alice stepped closer, kneeling to have a look at them. They seemed interesting enough; maybe she could learn to wield one. But the bow caught her attention more, and a little voice inside her head told her she probably should be using a gun, anyway. She picked it up, as well as one of the knives. "It would be to my advantage if I learned something of range, I suppose." Not that she had ever handled a bow in her life, but the longer she was here, the more real this place seemed. She had begun to doubt she was hallucinating, after all - even Wonderland had let her back out into England every so often.

She didn't do more than raise an eyebrow at Cid's comment regarding the spear, however; it wasn't as though she knew how to use one, anyway. She could barely even use her knife.

Well, Cid couldn't fault her for wanting to have a little more range. There wasn't much a knife was going to do if the opponent could stay out of range. Which, okay, could be said of just about any weapon but with a humble knife it was all the more obvious. About the only thing you could do with them to get anything more interesting out of them was throw them and that just meant you had to go and pick up them up again after the fight. Too damned much work there, if you asked him.

"You'd have to ask someone else about usin' a bow though. I can help a bit with guns, but bows ain't something I can deal with."

"I'm not sure I could use a gun," replied Alice, glancing at the weapons again. She had never seen a gun before in her life, much less handle one. Besides, given her prior background, she wasn't entirely certain she should have one. But then, if she couldn't learn to use a bow, buying one would be useless. She had no idea as to how to use a sword, after all, and a knife wouldn't give her the range she needed. How odd, that she'd learned what little she knew about combat in Wonderland, of all places! But maybe it wasn't; it had been in that place that she'd found herself again. Perhaps this place was the same.

Alice stepped back, inwardly wondering whether she could even master any weapon. But then, she didn't need to; she only needed to be good enough to defend herself without help. The thought of relying on others troubled Alice even more than the thought of actually having to fight.

"They ain't real hard to grasp the basics of," Cid answered with a shrug. "But hell, you find someone to help you with bows an' you can just come back. It ain't like they're gonna be flying off the shelves here."

If she found one she really wanted, he might even hang on to it for her, but given the way things were going, he wasn't going to bring it up. Most of the new arrivals in the city seemed to come with at least one thing they could use against the monsters that plagued the city now and again. Case in point, the knife she already had.

Nodding, Alice replaced the bow on the shelf. The knife, meanwhile, stayed firmly in her hand. "I'll just take this for now, please," she told him. She already knew how to use a knife reasonably well, even if she was hardly a master of combat. The important thing right now was self-defense; she wasn't looking to become a fighter or anything like that. Besides, the sheath the knife came in seemed quite useful, as well - it was much better than her dangerous habit of keeping an unsheathed blade in one of her apron pockets.

Alice proceeded to the counter, where she began to dig around in one of her pockets for the makeshift money she carried. Being unfamiliar with this city's currency, she never quite knew how much anything was.

As maddening as the money situation was for someone looking to buy it was nearly doubly so for Cid, to the point where he'd gotten to wondering just how the natives of the city managed. Worse still was trying to take the figures his mind wanted to associate with the various weapons ad translating that into something 'manageable' as far as the local currency went. (Some days it worked better than others.)

After a moment of silence spent idly watching Alice go through her collection of not-change, he spoke up again. "Y'know, maybe it's time t' look for a second set of hands around the place."

A few more moments of looking through her pocket, and Alice game up. With an exasperated sigh, she turned to Cid. "How much do you want for this, exactly?" As nice as it was to be able to afford more in life than handing over the occasional blackmail money to Nurse Witless, the currency system in Paixao was a little confusing.

What Cid said next, however, jolted the thoughts of money and the idiocy, however convenient, of those who decided shiny leaves were the best way to pay for everything, and Alice stared at the other. She'd been looking for something to do with herself, but was he really suggesting what she thought he was?

"Unless you can pay in gil, I ain't really picky," Cid answered with a shrug. "It ain't like you can really make a good system out of what the guys here use." And yes, he'd tried, briefly. But then more and more people kept coming in, and not a one of them had the same idea of what the various bits of not-trees were actually worth. So he'd given the idea up as less than helpful, and resigned himself to actually dealing with a maddeningly frustrating system.

At Alice's stare, there was a moment of silence, before Cid spoke up again. "Hell, I ain't gonna be keeping track of those damned candy things anyway, an' it ain't like you seemed to have a lot of problem with 'em."

At the answer, Alice shrugged and placed several silver leaves on the counter, along with a golden acorn and a few jeweled flower petals. As pretty as they were to look at, it could be frustrating to carry all of that around. Perhaps she ought to invest in a small bag she could carry in her apron pocket so she wouldn't have to listen to the jingling quite so often.

She thought about the unexpected offer. On the one hand, it was hardly wise for young woman to accept an offer of employment from a complete stranger, especially when it came out of nowhere. On the other, she did need something to do, and something told her this man wasn't as bad as the sort she found in London. The young woman turned to him, crossing her arms as she sized him up. At last, she gave a nod. "I hope you aren't going to try to trick me. I don't take well to that." Really, that sort of warning was more of a precaution than anything else.

There was a moment of silence as Cid looked over the offering in front of him before mentally shrugging and tucking him away in what passed for the store's cash box. Even if he didn't actually tend to offer change it didn't seem right to not have something that was more the store's than his.

"If I was gonna trick someone I sure as hell would have the goddamned courtesy to not make it look a job offer. I ain't gone two-time someone like that." Sure, he might be more than a little grumpy more than half the time, but he was a good enough man at heart. He wasn't going to go back on his word, once given.

Far from being put off by Cid's outburst, Alice was oddly reassured (if one could call the feeling reassurance). She nodded at him. "Very well. When would you like me to start?" she asked. Really, she didn't mind when. IT wasn't as though she had anything else to do, and it would be good to have some kind of purpose, at least, idle hands being the devil's workshop, and all that.

Alice snapped the sheath to her apron strings for easy access - one never knew when one might be set upon, in this place - as she waited for her answer.

If Alice had been put off by Cid's outburst it would have pretty much guaranteed that they wouldn't be the best suited to working together after all. Cid wasn't ever going to stop being sharp-spoken if it suited the situation at hand and he wasn't going to tone down his personality for anyone either. "Soon as you're ready, I guess," he answered with a shrug.

One way or the other, it didn't matter all that much to him, and he most certainly didn't know enough about offering people jobs to know the general protocol for this sort of thing.

"How about tomorrow morning?" Alice asked. She still wanted to get to know the city better, and she still had some shopping to do (and frankly, wearing a dress didn't exactly seem practical for this sort of work, not that she was used to wearing anything but skits and dresses). She hadn't expected to find a job, either, not that she was complaining. But while Cid was certainly gruff, his gruffness didn't bother her. Besides, he still hadn't put her off (which was, admittedly, not terribly difficult), and she'd seen worse than him.

As far as days went, though, this one had ended up being unexpectedly productive, after all.

"Sure." It wasn't like there was anything that was going to really require more hands than he needed right now, and hell, he could use the time to at least make an attempt to clean up some of the places that weren't the bits that people came in and out of. Sure, it might be something of a pretty sizable undertaking, but that didn't mean he couldn't make the attempt to impose some semblance of order on what was probably going to look like sheer chaos (not that it was, most places). He just had a very specific layout to his workrooms that had a slight tendency to spill out of drawers and on to desks.

Never onto the floor or the current project, though. That was just asking for something to go missing just when you needed and the floor needed to be kept clear so as to not step on things.

"Well, then, I'll be here," said Alice, giving Cid a little nod before turning to leave. She supposed she ought to say something more, but wasn't in the mood for getting involved in another conversation at the moment. Besides, now that she was going to be working somewhere, she really did need to get something that would be less likely catch on anything, especially given the amount of sharp things in there. SHe wasn't clumsy by any means, but she would need to be careful.

As Alice stepped out into the city once again, she wondered at her sanity - not that it was anything new, of course.

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Friends in Strange Places [Complete]

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ff, sorry, didn't realize I'd hit "reply to this". /derp

It's cool! These things happen.

<3

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