That Peron's Name Is…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bravely Default. Enough said.
SUMMARY: Edea and Ringabel talked about various garbs. From Dark Knight's armour to Wakoku Warrior costume.
Although the materialism and superficiality that had now permeated the Land of Radiant Flowers was nothing to be lauded about, there is something about the bright leon lights, the clear marble floors and the colourful women in pursuit of beauty in Florem that nonetheless resonated with the still teenage Edea who, prior to becoming a traitor and a fugitive, had been the daughter of the leader of a nation and was free to buy whatever she desired.
Edea especially wanted to show the Florem women what really is fashionaaabluh, especially after the way that Agnes was treated upon arriving the city.
She walked in the streets of Florem with her head held high, unwilling to admit defeat to its residents.
From the corner of her eyes, she spotted Ringabel amongst a crowd of women.
"What are you sneaking around here for, Ringabel?" Edea called to him from the distance, and started running straight for him.
"You called, Edea?" Came a reply from behind Edea.
Edea turned to the source of the response to see Ringabel standing behind. Confused, Edea looked back, only to find the person who she initially thought was Ringabel had disappeared from the crowd. [1]
"That's strange, I could have sworn that you were there just a moment ago." She muttered. Maybe she was more tired than she thought, she shook her head. "Ringabel, what are you doing here?"
"I thought we should stock up on supplies before heading to our next destination." Ringabel explained as they headed back to the inn. "Actually, I was looking at the newest items from Norende. Some of their products are actually quite useful! Look, here is a garb that allows you to be in your normal clothes even if you are not training as a freelancer." [2]
"What's wrong with the clothes that came with the job?" Edea asked, her brows furrowed. She actually quite enjoyed changing into different garbs.
"Well, most of them look fantastic on you ladies, but not so for us men." Ringabel shook his head and spread his hands in exaggerated helplessness. "The Valkyrie outfit covers my face! And the ranger outfit is even worse. While on you ladies it may bring out your wild side, the mask is not the most flattering."
"Ringabel, you're really vain," Edea rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Was that why you refused to even try out those jobs before?"
"But of course!" Ringabel exclaimed. "The helm and mask are uncomfortable and would most definitely mess up my hair. But most importantly, how is my ideal woman supposed to find me with my face covered up?"
"Ringabel…I don't think I will ever understand you…"
The two of them returned to the inn and, just as they were about to part ways to enter their respective rooms, Ringabel asked, "Edea, while you are here, I could really use your opinion. In addition to the freelancer outfit, I was actually quite taken with two other outfits and bought them as well. Will you do me the honour of letting me know what you think?"
"Well, I suppose." Edea shrugged. She followed Ringabel into the room shared by Tiz and Ringabel and settled herself on one of the beds while Ringabel brought an armful of clothing into the bathroom.
Ten minutes came and went, and Edea went from being seated to lying down on the bed, her legs dangling idly over its edge, "Ringabel, are you done yet?" She couldn't believe it took that long for a man to get dressed!
"I'm almost ready." Came the muffled voice behind the bathroom door.
"Alright," Edea called out, "If you don't come out in five minutes I'm going to leave!"
At the click of the door, Edea propped herself up.
To see Ringabel left the bathroom in a garb that consisted of nothing else except for a long flowing white scarf, a pair of scandals, and a modified version of an obi from the Wa country.
Edea felt her mouth open in shock.
Rinagable smiled charmingly, extending a rose to the stunned Edea.
"OHMYGOD what are you wearing!" Edea screamed after a moment of stunned silence, covering her eyes and quickly running away and towards her own room.
"Wait Edea, what is wrong with this outfit?" Ringabel moved to follow, only to be greeted by a door slammed in his face.
"I don't know you!"
It took quite some time for Ringabel to coax Edea out of her room, and not without a couple of bruises.
"Geez Ringabel, you're such a pervert. What were you thinking?" Edea rolled her eyes. Normally, Edea would not be so forgiving, but she had known Ringabel long enough to know that, while flamboyant, he meant no real harm, and did genuinely respect women in his own way, unlike the Red old man.
"I don't understand why you reacted so violently."
"You're calling me violent?" A vein popped on Edea's head.
"No! It was only a figure of speech! To describe your reaction!" Ringabel quickly back peddled and changed topic. "And really, when you think about it, the Wakoku Warrior costume is not that different from the bravo bikini."
"I suppose." Edea took a moment to consider his response, grudgingly admitted that he had a point, and decided to let it go. She eyed Ringabel's new outfit with renewed suspicion, "Anyway, what are you wearing right now and where did you get that?"
Ringabel was now wearing a very exaggerated outfit, and Edea's first impression was that it was very loud in red, yellow and white. The impression was reinforced by the ruffled white shirt, the long yellow coat trailing behind him with various red strips and decorations, the large white bow tied behind the coat and the bright red boots.
"The melodist's shirt?" Ringabel examined the cufflinks with appreciation. "It's also from the Norende shops. Do you not think that this shirt describes my personality perfectly?"
Well yes, Edea thought as she rolled her eyes, but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of telling him that. Instead, she challenged, "Ringabel, what kind of occasions are you going to wear this for?"
"Didn't I mention? I can wear it anywhere even if I'm training for a specific job."
"That's not what I meant! Wait, you mean you are going to wear this normally? And to battle?" Edea asked incredulously.
"What's wrong with that? I have to be prepared to meet the woman of my dreams at every occasion."
"Ringabel, I really wonder about your common sense sometimes," Edea palmed her forehand and shook her head, "And what kind of person you were before you lost your memories."
"Wouldn't I want to know." Ringabel muttered so quietly that Edea almost did not hear his comments. Almost.
A moment of awkward silence ensued.
"SO!" Uncomfortable, Edea wanted to break the silence and steer the direction of the conversation elsewhere, but she voice came out so much louder than she expected that both she and Ringabel jumped slightly at the volume of her voice. She giggled embarrassedly. "What else did you get in that little shopping excursion of yours?"
"That was it." Ringabel opened his palms in a gesture indicating that he had nothing else left, "I spent all of my pgs on those outfits."
Edea shook her head for the umpteenth time at Ringabels' antics, although for her to criticize him on his shopping habits would be pot calling kettle black. Instead, she opted, "Why don't we do some shopping that is actually useful? Let's check out the Adventurer's shop again!"
Together, they headed out of the inn. Edea was even willing to ignore the loudness of Ringabel's melodist's shirt. She was willing to put up with this after seeing the Wakoku Warrior costume.
"You know, the Norende reconstruction is really coming along!" Edea noted excitedly as she went from item to item displayed by the Adventurer. "Some of the weapons and items produced by Norende are of really high quality."
"I am really happy for Tiz." Ringabel nodded in agreement.
"So am I."
Edea picked up a helm. It was a dark helm. Ringabel noticed that she lingered on the helm longer than the other equipment, and took on an almost thoughtful expression as her fingers trailed over its surface.
"Edea, are you thinking about buying this helm? As I mentioned before, helms may be useful, but I absolutely refuse to wear them. And it would not do for the helm to cover your beautiful face."
"Shut up!" Edea stuttered, blushing furiously at his words. She put down the helm. "To answer your question, no, I'm not thinking about buying it. It's actually really hard to be skilled at using a helm. I was just thinking about my childhood friend. He's always wearing a black helmet and armour."
"He?" Black helmet and armour. Then it clicked. "Are you referring to the Dark Knight Alternis Dim?"
Edea nodded.
Ringabel was torn between what he convinced himself to be just a tiny, tiny hint of jealousy and wanting to know more about Edea's relationship with her childhood friend. In the end, curiosity won out. "How did you know each other?"
"Well, father brought him home one day and said that he was going to live with us" Edea began to describe, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "I remembered being really surprised. I was really young back then, and didn't know the specifics of what happened. But rather than a childhood friend, he is really more like family, an older brother, though at the beginning, he certainly didn't act like one! He was really quiet and didn't talk at all when he first started living with us, but he never protested when I dragged him around and read him stories even though he was older than me." [3]
"As we grew up, he started training very hard to become a dark knight and to help father. He takes the tasks that father gave him very seriously and is very capable. He is one of father's most trusted officers, if not the most trusted. In a way, I think father is treating him as his heir. Sometimes I can't help but be jealous of himSuch a tone should not be used by someone as cheerful and lively as Edea. In an effort to lighten up the mood, Ringabel commented, "I shudder to think what it is like to wear such an armour all the time. It must be immensely hot. Not to mention what his hair is going to look like once he takes off his helmet!"
Edea giggled at the comment, but then frowned in thought. "I'm trying to think what Alternis's hair would look like after taking off his helmet, but I don't remember seeing him out of his armour for…years now. I can't even picture his face."
"Wait, you mean that you don't know what he looks like now?" Ringabel asked incredulously. "Did you two not grow up together? How is that possible?"
"He is always wearing his armour!" She defended. "To the point that I think that the armour is part of him and his face is the helmet!"
"So let me get this straight," Ringabel deadpanned. "If Dark Knight Alternis Dim were, say, just around the corner in Florem in plain clothes without his helmet and armour on, you would not even recognize him."
"Probably not…" Edea acknowledged reluctantly, but quickly added, "Though I don't think anyone actually knows what Alternis looks like!"
"Does this man ever get out of his armour?" Ringabel was getting more incredulous at every question.
"I don't think so…" Edea responded hesitantly.
"Wow, talk about being repressed." [4] Ringabel concluded. "Well, I don't see how this man will ever find the woman of his dreams. From what you are telling me, he needs to lighten up. He could probably learn a thing or two from yours truly."
"I'll thank you not to corrupt Alternis." Edea tried to imagine Alternis in the Wokuku Warrior costume. Instead, the image that came to mind was a black armour with an obi. She burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ringabel asked, offended.
"Nothing." Edea tried to stifle her laughter, but failed miserably. Her laughter rang through the Florem streets like a spring breeze.
Ringabel smiled.
Author's Note: I borrowed the name of the asterisk boss battle theme for the title. It is kind of fitting given the theme of the fic (which is pretty much summed up in one unanswered question which was indirectly answered in the fic itself).
The fic is inspired by the party chat where Edea talked about the two boys in love with her. I wanted to write something with a similar effect i.e. hilarious in hindsight. It took me quite some time to figure out what Edea and Ringabel would say to each other, but once I have figured out in my head the gist of the direction that their conversation was heading, it was surprisingly easy to write out all of the dialogues. I think this could actually come out in a party chat format (that was how I originally wrote it), but dialogue fics can be kind of hard to follow. Anywho, I acknowledge that the last part of the story is pretty much hitting it over the reader's head but I will defend myself by saying that it is something perfectly reasonable for Ringabel (or the players) to ask in the circumstances (or so I hope)! And I had fun writing it, so that's all that matters.
Oh, and lastly, please review to let me know what you think!
[1] A cookie for you if you can tell where this scene came from (Hint: November 27). I know that this scene didn't take place in Florem. But think of it as creative license. I really want this little cameo.
[2] Probably too early in the game to get those outfits but still possible! Would also cost a fortune. No wonder Ringabel is broke. I would be too.
[3] Pretty much came straight out of the Drama CD. Edea actually also defended Alternis when he was bullied by other kids (although Alternis was strong enough to fight back, he chose not to because he was too strong and, from the sound of it, it was difficult for him to hold back once he started fighting and may seriously injure those children). I thought about adding it in but it's too much detail for the purposes of this and Edea is not one to brag about her defending someone in need. It was really cute though.
[4] I lied. I wrote the fic solely for this sentence. Really. It amuses me to no end that this guy can go from encasing himself in an armour all the time to wearing almost nothing.