Eiko Carol
In Loneliness
Regency life makes her sick. Too much fine food, and not nearly enough fried oglops. Not that she doesn't love her adopted father, of course. (Did he adopt her, or did she adopt him? Hard to tell). It's just that the city is so big, and she's so small. She feels smaller every day.
Even though, for the record, she's getting taller.
It's funny. For so long, in Madain Sari, she only had moogles for company. And she felt alone.
Now, she lives in a city of thousands, thronging with life. But she feels more alone now than she did back then.
Because the old team (Zidane called it a team; they all called themselves 'allies', even though they all knew they were something more) wasn't there anymore. Especially not him.
"Ah, Eiko. Bored?" Cid asks, his arms full of airship charts. He spends most of his time poring over them, reminding himself of old knowledge. (His mind just isn't the same as a human.)
"Uh-huh," she frowns. She's not in the mood to try on some of the dresses Hilda ordered for her today (although she adored wearing them at first, twirling around and thinking that she was just as pretty as Dagger).
"Well..." Cid whispered, bending his head down to her level (which annoys her, because she wants to be tall, dammit). "I hear that a certain place in the Industrial District just got rebuilt."
"Oh?" she says, uninterested.
"Yep. A pub that me and Zidane used to frequent...At different times, of course," he says, the smile showing through his moustache.
Half an hour later, Bobo's pub still doesn't know what hit it.
"Another Soup du Silence? I don't know how she can take it," the new waitress mutters. Eiko is used to listening to Eidolons, so of course she hears it. But she doesn't care. It's free for her, because she knew Zidane, and he was always coming here because he couldn't get full on the castle grub.
"Hey, brat."
The voice is gruff, but more worryingly, the step is utterly silent. Blank slides himself easily onto the stool next to hers.
"Just to let you know, the food here's awful. One special, Pops," he grins. Bobo slides it along the counter with practised ease.
"Yeah, but...Y'know," she hedges. Cid offered Tantalus jobs, but they refused, to a man. She guesses it's the same reason that Blank comes here.
"You're always welcome at the hideout, y'know. Vivi dropped in the other day. Keeps calling us his Uncles. At least he keeps Ruby off my case," Blank carries on.
Eiko smiles. She doesn't feel quite so lonely anymore. A friend of my friend is my friend too; that was the kind of thing Zidane would say. She was Zidane's friend, and Zidane was a friend of Tantalus. And Tantalus is friends with practically the whole city.
"You'd make a good thief, y'know," Blank says, much later. "You've gone through five bowls so far without paying a single gil."
She decides not to tell him that she's exempt from paying. He still has to root around in his wallet for every meal.
"Step two: the getaway. On your marks, kid," he says casually, sliding himself silently off the stool. She nods, the movement still as happy-go-lucky as it ever was.
Seconds later, there's a yell, but they're already down the street, laughing and yelling. Lindblum, the city of a thousand souls, is a lonely place. But it's not so bad, as long as you have a few souls you truly care about.
