final fantasy//endless abyss

[Pierre42]

Oassu grimaced "Yeah some places will still try and get away with that depending on what's stolen" he said letting Felina tug him along "Was old fashion really that bad though?" he asked swooshing Cid around. "The clothes sell for enough that you'd think people like it," he laughed.

Zadina nodded in agreement "Indeed let's move on with our duties," he said turning to go upstairs "Though it does not seem so bad down here, it is nice and cool compared to upstairs and outside. I imagine such temperature regulation would be necessary for the brewing of so many chemicals," he suggested.

Mari sighed with relief glad to be leaving the room "Well I would not like the cramped work area so much. I cannot stand it when the kitchen is messy either. Just makes it difficult to do your job," she said hugging Sophia tightly while Ivy changed Hebal's fur to the bright neon blue colour of one of the chemicals and giggled incessantly at her handiwork.  

[Captain Glomps]

Hebal gasped looking down in surprise "Thanks Ivy but when outside maybe you could changee me back. This colour makes it very hard to hide from people if need be cause my fur is sort of the same colour of the sand" she explained jumping up the steps five at a time. So where we going Mr Yani? Anywhere interesting?"

Yani paused shokeed by the burst of energy from the viera "umm not really. Just to a couple of houses then arranging for the rest of the supplies to be distributed through the quarentine area though we won't be going in there I assure you. I keep telling people that my species cant get this plague but people here don't want to listen. Though personally I like the blue, would be useful come nightfall when theres no lights and you and me are going to stand out regardless of what colour we are. A viera with no forest is just as weird as a gria on flat land" he added light heartedly.  

[lack-of-originality]

Felina smiled and nodded her head "Oh yes at one point it was all wigs and ruffles and I think it was just one or two people started it all off then the rest copied to try and keep favour. My father always thought it was silly so never wore that stuff but very few had the same attitude" she whispered glancing around at the other residents "Bet these guys don't care much for fashion and are all about practical wear and bright colours."  

[Pierre42]

Oassu laughed at the thought of it "Wigs? Like even if you already had hair?" he paused for a second visualising Felina in that fashion "You didn't have to actually wear that stuff when you were little did you?" he asked as he examined the local fashions with Felna "Well in heat like this I can't blame them for wanting to dress practical, you'd get heat stroke or something if you went out fully clothed and stuff" he sighed placing Cid on top of his hat.

Mari snickered slightly at Hebal's new choice of colour "True but it makes you stand out a lot more and would be handy if you could not see at night" she joked brightly before petting Ivy "That's very nice dear but Hebal would like to be her normal colour please," she asked politely. Ivy nodded with a small sigh before turning Hebal's colour back to normal and going back to lying down between her ears.

Zadina nodded in agreement "Agreed we probably do stand out a lot, but it does make me wonder Mr Yani, what are you doing so far away from Gria homelands? You hardly ever see male Gria outside of Grian settlements" he asked as they emerged back onto the main room of the clinic.  

[Captain Glomps]

Hebal smiled tickling Ivy with one of her fingers "thanks Ivy much appreciate. We can get Alpha later though perhaps" she whispeered with a small giggle. "you know mr. Yani, Zadina has a good point. We were in Kunec not too long ago. Really lovely city up in the clouds and we only saw maybe one or two male gria at most. Do you all hide away or something"

Yani froze for a second while the colour drained from his face "Umm I will take your word for it on Kunec. I haven't been there myself as i grew up in a mountain city. Only non grian summoners go there to get to the temple of Bahamut as its quite isolated. I guess I just wanted a change in scenery. I dont exactly fit in with the rest of my kind" he shrugged pushing his way through the door attempting to be vague.  

[lack-of-originality]

Felina shook her head but still shuddered " I didn't as I was still the cute kid that was given pigtails all the time because it apparently made me look cuter. Elithana on the other hand was old enough to be expected to fit in. Se hated the wigs and if didn't like someone she would on occasion get a frog from the palace gardens and slide it under someone wig" she whispered having double checked nobody was too near them. "Still let's get out this market, too many people trying to catch our eye to sell things"  

[Pierre42]

Oassu gasped and laughed "That's hilarious, I never figured someone like Elithana would dare do something so mischevious," he chuckled "I bet Kurgan was all like 'noo don't' to her when she started acting up," he joked before glancing around "Yeah, last I heard that's normal in a market. Nothing really worth looking at here though, just a bunch of strange stuff being traded behind the counters. Probably a few makeshift cures and fake doctors looking to capitalise on the situation," he sighed.

Mari nodded her head understandingly "I can sympathise Yani, after all I too do not fit in in my homeland as much." she said quietly "It is why I left for a while as well, but they still accept and love me, I know that much now," she said smiling slightly as she rocked Sophia.

Zadina nodded "That's ok, I suppose it makes sense to see Male Gria elsewhere in the world, it's just you seem like a really rare bunch." he said shrugging. "Though the Temple of Bahumut? I wish I could have seen it when I was there, Bahumut is really impressive when my uncle summons him." he said brightly oblivious to Yani's distress.  

[Captain Glomps]

Yani shook his head "you are lucky people accept you still Miss Mari. Male gria like myself are usually kept in very restricted areas for fear we do something that will get ourselves hurt. I don't think I need to explain the problems with the ratio of males to females but it leaves society in general very overprotective of the males. The temple of Bahamut is nice I guess. Personally though I think the style of the place isn't as nice as other temples I have briefly visited travelling around not that I saw many before winding up here"

Hebal shrugged nodding her head " well I guess it's fair to really protect male gria I mean every last one is needed to keep the species going after all. Got to have at least a couple of hundred offspring each between each of you in your lifetimes. Especially the really small gria places.mi would have thought you would be at that age where you should be busy doing that" she added with a small giggle.  

[lack-of-originality]

Felina nodded smiling at Oassu's reaction "I know, I know it's hard to believe my sister once upon a time had a sense of fun. Then responsibilities got in the way for the most part. I know she was pretty sad when she stopped seeing Kurgan around as the two were close. I never really had that bond with anyone. But that's ok got plenty friends now that seem to get me into plenty trouble. After all we somehow ended up in this place thanks to Alpha..." She laughed  

[Pierre42]

Oassu grinned "Well I don't know, from the way Hayate tells it, you would get into plenty of trouble yourself anyway little miss Marboro Rider," he teased passing Cid to Felina while he bought himself a drink from a local stall after grimacing at the high price "It's a real shame, what happened to Kurgan though. I worry about the little guy really." he said with a sigh "He seems to think he's still alive out there."

Mari tilted her head a little confused "Well I suppose it does make sense to protect your precious members of society. It is the norm for my society as well, women are the ones who are expected to have and raise children which is why they are traditionally not allowed to fight or put themselves in danger," she said.

Zadina hopped up the last few steps and sighed, glad to be out of the claustrophobic confines of the staircase. He waved over to Jeckhart "Ready to go Mr Jeckhart? We have plenty of deliveries that need doing so it won't do to sit around all day." he admonished jokingly.

Jeckhart nodded gently as he stood up "Indeed Master Loweena, I'm sure plenty people will need their medicine delivered to them but is there any precautions we should take if we are heading into a plague area?" he asked with a hint of concern.  

[Captain Glomps]

Yani shrugged "Considering you all have apparently been vaccinated at worst when leaving the edge of the quarentine area you might get a bucket of cool water thrown at you buy given the temperatures I wouldnt complain too much. People seem to think it stops you carryinhg around anything spreadable. Though you know, in gria society the women look after the kids also" he added to Mari.

Hebal let out a shiver at the mention of the water "Eww I dont like my fur getting wet so this better be the coldest water in town we are talking about if thats getting thrown at us" she complained watching the people in the nearby shade with a little jealousy.  

[lack-of-originality]

Felina grumbled quietly handing over a few coins for the water. Privately she didnt think the price was all that bad considering how much money she actually had. "That was one time and nobody will ever let me live it down it seems. Besides Hayate wasn't exactly perfect either. The only reason we bumped into eachother in the first place was because he was stealing apples out the garden while on shift. Hardly a model 19 year old" she laughed  

[Pierre42]

Oassu smirked wagging a finger at Felina "Well there's probably a world of difference in what's expected of you both so it's not really a good comparison." he said idly pocketing a bottle of water while the seller was distracted by Felina's transaction "Besides he's stealing a few apples, you are riding a marlboro, one is decidedly deadlier than the other." he said shrugging before leading Felina away from the stall.

Zadina frowned, not fond of the prospect of having a bucket of water thrown at him "I should hope it doesn't come to that, it would seem especially rude, I keep myself very clean anyway," he stated matter-of-factly. "Still we should be on our way by now," he said gesturing for the party to leave the place.

Mari nodded "Agreed, lets be on our way. I'm sure this medicine is important to people, right Sophia?" she said rocking the small tonberry gently "Though I must admit I expected you and Psy would be a lot busier what with it being in the middle of a plague. Who enforces the quarantine zone anyway?" she asked stepping outside after Zadina.  

[Captain Glomps]

Hebal nodded at Zadina still shuddering at the thought of the water "That is a good question, would people not be too scared to run a quarentine zone if they wern't sick in case they got it too? And theres a thought, can you do alchemy yourself?" she asked Yani.

"Umm no... in all honesty I cant do that much myself. I have no massively useful skills around here" Yani admitted placing his hood over his head to keep the sun away from his face. "It's just sort of self governed by the local gangs. I dont know the ins and outs of how they work it. Probably people who owe them favours. Other than that when the medicine takes several days to be ready for use theres not much you can do in the meantime I suppose. I just do the odd errand" he shrugged.  

[lack-of-originality]

Felina frowned feeling the bottle of water slip out of her bag that had been reclaimed by the merchant as she pulled away"I think you have to up your game around here if you want to try that one" she sighed with a hint of sadness. "You never met the gardener. Would have a fit if you so much as walked on the grass let alone stiole an apple. You will find both are equally deadly. Especially when there are hedge trimmers nearby" she joked debating going back to buy the second water.