The Gold Saucer, Eastern Thanalan ~ Early Evening
Perspective: Kisusu Kisu
I never was much of a betting woman, much less blessed with great luck as some of my colleagues oft complained. And since it effectively cost me nothing to play the Mini Cactpot at the Gold Saucer anyways, so there was no reason not to play every time I passed by.
Today's attempts was well within expectations. The first one was a bust, and the second one wasn't too much better. But for the third and final one, I had the luck to reveal the 3 and 1 spaces in the same line. Of course, that setup wasn't always the winning one, but after marking my card and handing in to the clerk, the smile on his face told me that once again, I had hit the cactpot. Sure, ten thousand MGP was a drop in the bucket compared to some of the high rollers, but a win is a win in my book.
Grinning, I had put my hand up to my ear to announce my minor windfall over the Pekoe Academy linkshell, but before I could say I word, the pearl in my ear rang out to tell me I had someone trying to contact me directly. I accepted the hail and listened expectantly, clapping my other ear shut to block out the ambient sound of the Gold Saucer.
"K-...Kisusu...?"
Barely audible was a faint and weak voice, followed by a series of heavy coughs.. It took me a while to recognize who was at the other end. Fuyuki Fuyo, a fellow professor at the Academy. However, for her to be calling me by my name instead of the nickname borne from an embarrassing typo put me on edge. Frowning, I responded.
"Fuyu? What's up?"
"I'm...I'm at the Academy's entrance..." Fuyuki's voice replied, interrupted by coughing again. "I...I need you to heal me a bit..."
I couldn't help but stagger at the request. Aside from myself and Porom, Fuyuki was one of the most skilled healers among the Pekoe staff. How is it that she couldn't treat her own wounds? My frown intensified as I took a deep and concerned sigh. I closed my eyes as I concentrated my mind, focusing on the miniature aetheryte at the Academy.
"...Yeah, hang on. I'll be right there." I said as I started to feel my aether get pulled away, adding on with a cheeky grin. "Oh, by the way, Cactpot.
The world seemed to pull away and the rushing sound of wind and the high pitch whine of magic filled my ears, but it was not enough to drown out Fuyuki's biting laugh, cursing me over the linkshell as she always had.
"Bloody demon's luck..."
Pekoe Academy, Shirogane - Early Evening
In a moment I felt myself on solid ground, the carpeted flooring and bright lights of the Gold Saucer replaced by the dimly-lit stone streets of Shirogane. With Fuyuki's earlier description of 'at the entrance', I had expected to to be somewhere near the archway, but it only took a few more steps to see the form of a Raen woman in Doman garb face-down on the lawn, halfway between the Academy's front door and the entryway arch. It wasn't the first time I had come across her like this, and far from like to be the last. But there was another immediate problem: her usually snow-white hair was tinted an icy blue.
"Wow. What in the seven hells happened to you?" I muttered as I skittered beside her. Without knowing what exactly was wrong, I turned my friend over so that she could lie on her back and held my hands over her chest to start channeling a minor healing spell.
"Remember the first time my hair turned like this?" Fuyuki replied. Based on her voice, whatever she had injured to cause her cough seemed to have been repaired for now. In fact, it seemed like she had suffered very little -physical- damage overall, rather she aetherial makeup had been, for lack of a better term, shaken up.
I blinked and shook my head with a sigh, maintaining the healing processes. "Yep. A very bad idea, girl."
For reasons still incomprehendable to me, she had attempted to use Flow. A forbidden spell, albeit because it was needlessly risky. Teleportation spells were simple enough and carried very little risk nowadays, albeit limited by the need to target and Aetheryte and by the caster's only anima strength. Apparently, she had need to work around those to limitations.
"Remember the other bad idea I had?" Fuyuki continued. Her eyes opened and she looked at me with a wry grin. Her limbal rings were still that icy blue, instead of the pure white like her hair used to be.
"You mean what Sev told us, the last time you ended up unvoluntarily face-down?" I rolled my eyes and laughed, before sighing as she joined me in laughter, covering her mouth. Based on what Seventh Heaven (yeah, she wasn't entirely happy with the name, yet she never bothered to change it on the registrar), Fuyuki had been researching geomantic charms and other Far Eastern magics. While the movement of her arm should have been a good thing, meaning her strength was returning, I noticed several rectangular burn marks on her her arm.
"And now you had third bad idea, made up of the first two?!" I exclaimed, shifting my healing to focus on her arms. As the burn marks on the pale-skinned woman's arm faded, Fuyuki laughed again and nodded. "I don't know whether to call you a genius for managing to use that spell twice, and living, or a dumbass for even thinking about it at all!" I said, the most I could really do in admonishment.
"How about, 'madwoman', as a compromise?" Fuyuki quipped in return. I took out my staff and lightly tapped her on her horn. While she winced, due to her horn being oddly a weakpoint, the Raen's own spirit seemed to be undimmed.
"Tch. More like 'reckless gambler'" I grumbled, bracing myself for the retort that I knew was going to happen.
"Says the girl who just came in from the Gold Saucer!"
Predictable. Honestly, despite nearly mangling herself again, I found myself rather unable to get too upset. I eased up on my healing spells and offered my friend a hand.
"Pfft. I need to drag you there one time," I said as I pulled her to her feet, then smirked. "Maybe there you'll learn to make a smaller bets in a safer setting."
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