There was a thin red line of light on the eastern horizon when they exited the opera house, indicating they had spent the entire night in there battling the dragon, watching the show, and coming to terms with their feelings. Leo turned back towards the building and whistled between his fingers to summon Orcus from the roof. There was a squawk from above them, and then a chocobo whose plumage blended into the night ungracefully flapped down in front of them.
The bird backed up and gave an uncertain trill, and Leo placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. "I apologize, Orcus, it seems that the last few times we've reunited I keep coming back looking different from how you last remembered." He reached into one of his uniform pockets, now much less numerous than those he bore on his trench coat, and offered the chocobo a raisin. "But I promise you that I still am, and always have been, me."
Orcus strutted forward and plucked the raisin out of his fingers, then pushed further forward to knock Leo over.
"Wait, no, Orcus, we're actually on a tight schedule right now, this isn't the time-" he attempted, but it was too late. Orcus had re-asserted his claim on him and insisted on sitting on him like a chick, nibbling at his freshly-cut brush of hair.
Terra crouched down next to him with a grin and a giggle. "When you mentioned before that he did that to you, too, I thought it sounded cute. Now I know for certain that it is."
"Well, I aim to please," he said in a slightly defeated, though good-natured sigh. He reached up and rubbed Orcus's chest. "Still, Orcus is someone important to me, too, so if he needs time to adjust to the changes I've undergone, I need to give that to him. I trust that he will take only the time he needs."
Leo's assessment proved to be correct, as Orcus only incubated him for about five minutes before he was satisfied, at which point he stood up and ruffled his feathers, then nosed Leo's pocket for more raisins. Leo stood up and patted the bird's cheek, saying, "Sorry, my supply of treats is starting to run low. But hopefully we can get you some more food in Jidoor while procuring our other supplies."
He helped Terra onto Orcus's back, then mounted the chocobo himself and gave him directions to depart for Jidoor. Once they were off at a steady pace, Leo let out a small sigh and gazed at the dimly-lit surroundings. "This route and landscape all look so familiar to me, and yet it's like I'm looking at it with fresh eyes again. Before today I never knew the world in any other state than what it's been for the past year, but now that I remember what came before... it almost hurts to see."
Terra swallowed and leaned back to rest the back of her head against his chest. "There's... nothing that says for certain that defeating Kefka will undo what he did to the world. But even if it doesn't, I'd still rather try and fight than curl up and wait for the world to die."
Leo couldn't help but smile a little. Even though her words were bleak on the surface, they were nevertheless a little reassuring. That it was better to try to make the world a better place and fail than to just accept fate and succumb to it. Failure was only a potential outcome of choosing to fight, while choosing to do nothing rendered it the only outcome. No, he would fight for the people and world that he loved, and even if it still all came to nothing, the journey to get there would still be worth it.
The sun had just risen completely by the time they made it to the forest north of Jidoor and dropped Orcus off to rest and forage. At this rate, by the time they walked back to town the shops should just be opening.
As they walked, Leo shook out his arms and tugged at his collar while mouthing to himself. Terra tilted her head and wondered, "Nervous?"
He made a slight choking noise, but admitted, "A little, yes. I have conducted dozens of diplomatic agreements, however I am a year out of practice now and for this one I am at a severe disadvantage and the stakes are perilously high."
Terra nodded. "I... don't know much about diplomacy, but... maybe if you talked me through it I could help? Or at least give you feedback from the point of view of a layperson?"
"Perhaps..." he mulled. Whenever he had to conduct diplomatic arrangements in the past he had only ever been able to rehearse with himself, as there had never been anyone with him whom he could share confidential tactics and information with off the record. He cleared his throat and explained, "The fundamental root of diplomacy is understanding what it is you want and what it is the other party wants, and formulating a strategy to achieve both. In our current situation, I want ample supplies to feed and clothe the children, and the shopkeeper wants money. Unfortunately, as I do not currently have sufficient money to exchange for said supplies, I need to formulate a means for our exchange to nevertheless be satisfactorily equal from his perspective. This would either come in the form of a concession, in which I give something else extra to make up the difference, or a threat, in which I propose to take something additional from him if he does not agree to my terms. I try to avoid the latter unless it is the only option and my needs are urgent, but I see nothing else I could offer that would equal the cost of those items."
"I see..." said Terra in thought. That almost sounded like the deal she had with Shadow, where he took her job despite her not having money, and accepting "hope" as a payment in its place. But Shadow had set those terms, not her, so it seemed like the "price" of a job was completely arbitrary. "Instead of trying to think of what we can offer to meet the price he's asking, is there any way to get him to consider the price of those items to be equal to what we're able to give?"
"Prices can be haggled, yes," Leo agreed. "However, I only have a few hundred gil left, which would only buy us two potions at his prices. I may be able to get him to drop the price marginally, but there is no way he would agree to an entire town's worth of provisions for the price of two potions. I was able to convince the aristocrat of South Figaro to sell out the entire town to avoid an armed conflict, however even that sum of money was quite large." He sighed and rubbed his face. "Honestly, with the amount of money the Jidoor shopkeeper has overcharged me I could have bought out any other item store five times over, but Jidoor is central to my route and has the most reliable stock."
He blinked and pulled his hand away from his face, then looked down and fingered his sash. "But my value isn't only what I am holding now, but the accumulation of what I have done..." He turned quickly to Terra and held her shoulders. "That's it! I think I know how I can negotiate this! Thank you, Terra!"
Terra squeaked in surprise. "I... don't know what I did that helped, but you're welcome!"
He squeezed her shoulder with a chuckle. "Just being able to voice my thoughts and anxieties can help me spot solutions that wouldn't be apparent if I had left them locked up inside my head. That's a darker side of diplomacy: if your opponent knows your insecurities they can exploit them, so they need to be kept hidden at all times. But that means... you can never talk about them. They lie in your heart to fester, unable to be dealt with because dealing with them would require exposing them." He smiled and relaxed his shoulders. "It's so nice to be able to have someone to just talk to about these sorts of things without having to worry about privileges of rank or keeping up appearances."
Terra reached up to hold the hand that was on her shoulder. "Of course. I want you to be able to talk to me about anything any time you need it." She blushed lightly and looked to the side. "And... honestly, I'm really happy when you do. Even if you're talking to me about difficult problems that I don't understand or may not be able to do anything about, just knowing that you trust me enough to be able to tell me how you're feeling is gratifying in and of itself."
He smiled and replied, "And I would ask for the same from you. Any time you're feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, or afraid, I want to be there to listen and to help you. Don't worry about being a burden on me. I consider being able to help you a privilege."
Taking a cue from his previous gestures of affection toward her, she lifted his hand off her shoulder and brought it in front of her to lightly press her lips against his knuckles. "Right now the only thing I'm worried about is that you'll be okay. Is there anything else I can do to help?" she wondered, looking up at him.
Leo let out the breath he had been involuntarily holding. Her lips on his hand felt like they had activated every nerve ending in it, so every breath against it, every slight movement of her mouth and fingers registered a distinct tickling thrill running up his arm. What... was she worried about again? What was he doing that she wanted to help with? His mind had faded out in that moment.
Blinking and reorienting himself, he finally stuttered, "I, um, I may require your assistance as backup depending on how the negotiation goes. An extra voice can sometimes tip the scales, as can an honest plea for help. But to start I should be the sole negotiator. It is essential to control the narrative and that is most easily accomplished with as few participants as possible."
Terra nodded and released his hand, causing it to twitch slightly in want of her continued touch. The nerves were still primed from her earlier actions, tempting him to stroke his hand over her cheek, her shoulder, her back... No, he couldn't let himself get distracted. As he had said before, work before pleasure. There were people depending on him and their needs would always take precedence over his personal desires.
It was mid-morning by the time they made it to Jidoor, where the townspeople were just starting to go about their business. People were casually conversing in the streets while shopkeepers were setting out their wares. Leo took a deep breath and laid his gaze on the shop at the far edge of town where he had done all his previous business. He'd never had any direct interaction with the shopkeeper before, although he had entered the store numerous times while invisible to check inventory and prices and had overheard conversations with customers. Thus, as those conversations had been public he considered the intel he had learned from them to be fair game.
Terra squeezed his hand. "I believe in you. You just have this... innate power to make people like you and want to help you. Even if it's someone as stubborn as that shopkeeper, I think you can still get through to him." She shrugged and gave him a cheeky grin. "And if you do end up needing to resort to threats, you can leave that to me."
He made a surprised half-snort half-laugh. "You were planning on threatening him?" he wondered.
"For those kids, absolutely," she confirmed. "I did body-slam a monster ten times my size to protect them, after all. Then I melted it into a puddle of charred goo so it could never hurt them again."
Leo felt the hairs on his neck bristle. That was both intimidating and... kind of alluring at the same time. He recalled feeling the same sort of rush when he saw her blow up the octopus on the airship. He generally detested resorting to violence, but if it was to protect someone then not only did he approve of it, he found it to be wholly proper. "Well, hopefully it doesn't come to that, but if it does... please be gentle," he requested.
They entered the shop with a jingle of the door. The shopkeeper looked up from his counter with a smile and said, "Ah, welcome, valued customers. What can I do for you today?"
Terra and Leo shared a glance, then Leo squared his shoulders and nodded. It was Game Face time. That was a mask he hadn't put on in a year and he hoped that he still had it.
Leo approached the counter and folded his hands behind his back, beginning, "Yes, good morning, I apologize that this is the first time we have been able to meet in person, but we have been doing business together for this past year." He produced a black feather from the cuff of his sleeve and laid it on the counter with a smile. "General Leo Cristophe, a grateful longtime customer."
The shopkeeper looked at the feather on the counter and gasped. "Wait... are you saying that you're the one who has been making all of those anonymous orders all this time?"
Leo nodded. "Yes, food, medicine, blankets, tools, relics, all of which have been distributed worldwide to those suffering from the aftermath of the world's fall. You have played an integral part in all of it and I wished to thank you for your service."
The shopkeeper hunched his shoulders and smiled. "Well, you've been basically single-handedly keeping me in business this whole time, too, so I suppose I should be grateful as well." He scratched his head awkwardly. "But I wish you would have come to talk to me sooner about what all this was for. I feel bad charging you so much if it was for relief supplies."
That was actually the goal of this portion of the conversation, Leo thought to himself. Standing up straighter and lifting his chin, he continued, "Which is why I have come to you in person this time. I have been informed that after the town of Mobliz was destroyed in the fall of the world, a dedicated young woman has been looking after... how many children are there?" he suddenly realized, turning to query that to Terra.
Terra blinked and responded, "Oh, um, including Duane and Katarin there's ten."
"Ten?!" he mouthed back to her in a shocked whisper. He'd been picturing maybe three or four, but that many?! Turning back to the shopkeeper, he re-composed himself and continued, "... ten orphaned children, and their supplies are running perilously low. It is imperative that I deliver these supplies to them today, however this has left me no time to procure the necessary funds for an order of this magnitude. Therefore, I would like to take you up on your previous offer of a discount with a further proposal: That the discount be made retroactive."
"Retro... active?" the shopkeeper wondered, having lost him after the mention of orphaned children.
"Meaning that the discounted price that you have offered me today applies to everything I have purchased from you over the past year, and the surplus money that I have thus paid in the meantime has been building up a reserve fund that I would like to apply to the purchase I wish to make now." He leaned forward with an imploring expression and stated, "Please... I have asked for nothing of you this entire year and have been utterly dependable in paying my dues. But today I come to you as the representative of a village of needy children who have nothing to give but their eternal gratitude. I would hope that this coupled with my reserve fund will be sufficient payment for the goods that we require."
The shopkeeper blinked, then bit his lip and tapped his finger on his counter in thought. With a sigh, he finally relented. "... Yeah... yeeeeah, I'm not going to let a bunch of kids weigh on my conscience. I've got kids, too, you know... and with the way the world is I've been paranoid about losing what we have so I've been charging this much in order to keep it... But that's just taking things away from all those other kids..." He nodded and looked up at Leo. "Take what you need. And thanks for everything you've been doing up until now."
Leo did his best to suppress his glee, though he definitely heard Terra squeak behind him. "You have my thanks as well. And I promise that our work will make the world a better place for your children as well."
"Yes, thank you!" Terra agreed, walking up to stand beside Leo and giving the shopkeeper a slight bow. "You have no idea how much it means to me that we can finally get those children some decent supplies." She looked up at Leo in admiration. "And thank you, too. Just... for everything." She reached up and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pulled herself up to give him a tight hug. He wrapped his arms securely around her back to hold her up and rested his cheek against her neck with a relieved smile that his diplomacy skills had managed to pull through.
The shopkeeper left them in peace to browse his offerings and the two of them immediately got to work picking out everything they thought they'd need. Leo hefted two large bags of assorted dried grains over his shoulders to load into some crates in the back while Terra laid out sets of children's-sized clothing to compare their sizing. While examining the other food offerings, Leo found a bag of hard candies that, while not exactly a necessity, if those children had been eating nothing but dried meat all year, certainly they deserved a treat after all this time.
As Terra folded up some blankets and added them to another crate, she was startled by a "bonk" sound and looked to see Leo bouncing a ball he'd found. He caught it in his hands and looked at her innocently, saying, "Sorry... but, do they have any toys? Years spent standing by in military camps has taught me that boredom leads to severe mental and emotional strain which is why I always tried to have some kind of activity available to my soldiers during times when we were awaiting more ideal conditions to act. I would imagine that children have an even greater need for mental stimulation." He tossed the ball to her, which she caught awkwardly.
"Oh, yes, we spent almost all our time hiding in the underground caverns from the monsters and there wasn't much to do there. We'd collected all the books in town down there and I spent a lot of time reading to them, but most of the books were monster references or hunting guides and not really good reading material for children. They got bored and fussy a lot, and I kept catching them trying to run outside simply to have something to do, but it was too dangerous outside for them to play."
"Well, then I would consider toys to be a safety necessity, then," he said, nodding and examining a shelf of stuffed animals. Shopping for children... almost made him feel like a child again in a way. Looking at racks of toys and trying to decide what looked appealing and what kinds of fun could be had with them, or imagining himself playing with the children while they invented their own games... it made him feel almost giddy.
His internal emotions were echoed by a small "squee" coming from Terra's direction. He looked away from the rack of toys and saw her holding up a tiny white knitted beanie cap with moogle ears and a pom-pom. "I was looking at clothes for the baby and found this," she said, biting her lip with a grin. "I mean, I know it isn't really a necessity, but..."
Leo felt his stomach flutter and shook his head. "Oh, no, a baby's head must always be kept warm and protected, so I think that is absolutely a necessity!" He picked a stuffed moogle off the shelf and wiggled it in front of him. "And, you know, a baby also needs a friend while it's sleeping so it feels protected."
"Okay, then that means we have to get it this matching onesie, too," Terra said quickly, holding up a white cotton baby-sized jumpsuit with little pink bat wings on the back.
Hnngh, I wish I had my own baby to get cute things for, Leo caught himself thinking, unconsciously cradling the moogle doll in his arm. Ah, but, no, that was getting ahead of himself. These were Terra's children he was helping out with, and while he had absolutely no reason to suspect she would refuse an offer to help with them, he couldn't just impose himself and take over without an invitation. That would be... rather Imperialistic of him, honestly. It was a mindset that he couldn't let himself fall back into.
"Yes, I think Duane and Katarin would love that," he replied with a small smile, handing her the stuffed moogle to also add to the crate.
Terra noticed the slight change in his enthusiasm and wondered, "Are you all right?" as she took the doll from him.
He let out a little embarrassed choke. It was far too early in their relationship to seriously talk about having children together, and fantasizing too far ahead with so much still left unsettled was exactly the mistake Orcus made. "I... simply wanted to make sure that we were choosing items based on what we think the children would like rather than our own personal preferences. We may have our desires for them but they are still their own people."
Terra smiled at him and hugged the doll to her chest. "You're right... I just really like moogles, is all..." This was important information that Leo made sure to mentally file away in a safe and accessible place.
They finished loading up the crates and set them outside, ten in all. Leo double-checked the list in his notebook to make sure they had everything Terra requested while Terra tied the crates together with ropes. The shopkeeper came out and folded his arms and said, "Well now that you have all that, how are just the two of you going carry it? And how do you intend to transport it all the way to Mobliz? That's not even on the same continent as us and neither we, Maranda, or Zozo have a shipping port."
"Oh, we have our ways," said Terra with a grin, then cast the Float spell on the crates while Leo pulled the leading one onto his back with the sash he'd kept, leaving a floating train of crates behind him.
The shopkeeper shook his head and let out an amused snort. "Yeah, if you were running supplies all year without being seen and somehow earning enough to continuously pay my prices, I figured magic was probably involved somewhere." He waved them off. "Take care, you've earned it."
"You have our gratitude," said Leo, nodding his head. With a smile he added, "And tell your daughter that the opera house is now monster-free and back open for business. ... Also, don't leave her wandering around alone while you're at the auction house."
The shopkeeper blushed with a choke. "Urk... Guess that's my own fault for blowing all that money on my kids... but the kids are worth it, so I understand. If you've helped the opera house to open back up, I'm sure that'll put a smile on my daughter's face, and that's worth more than any payment you could have given me."
Terra suddenly realized something and raised her hand, also requesting to the shopkeeper, "Um, I hate to ask another favor of you after you've been so generous, but my friends are expecting to pick me up here tomorrow morning, but we're going to be in Mobliz and I have no way to contact them in time to tell them that. If some people in an airship show up here tomorrow looking for me, can you tell them to head to Mobliz?"
The shopkeeper put his hands on his hips. "Airship, huh? You're friends with Setzer? Guess that explains how you're getting to Mobliz, then." He turned to head back into the shop with a wave. "Yeah, I'll tell him. I owe him a gambling debt, anyway, and I'll call that even."
Leo rubbed his chin and looked at the train of crates hovering behind him. "An airship would certainly be a more efficient means of transporting this much cargo, however if we wait for them then you will have no time to spend with the children before we need to leave again, which was the entire reason for the rush." He started walking out of town, the collection of crates trailing after him like a string of balloons. "This looks ridiculous, but nevertheless effective."
Terra stifled a giggle. He did look rather silly, but that was hardly a reason to refuse his service and generosity. "Still, I'm not even sure where Mobliz is in relation to Jidoor anymore. Will we still be able to make it there today?"
"It's actually just to the west of here, across the ocean," he said, tilting his head in that direction. "Not much further away than Maranda."
"We've been that close the entire time?" she said, a bit surprised. With all her world-hopping in the airship since she reunited with the group she'd lost all track of direction and distance and had no idea where they were in relation to anything else anymore. With all the flying they'd done since she rejoined she had simply assumed they were quite a distance away from where she'd started.
She folded her arms behind her back in thought and noted, "But if it's just to the west of here, then... I feel sorry for that man in Jidoor who is always telling everyone that they're the westernmost town. He seemed really proud of that."
Leo blinked at her, then the two of them just laughed.
Notes:
- There was a scene in Dissidia Opera Omnia (I think in Rinoa's event?) where Terra was playing with a ball with some of the other characters and I thought this was the most random thing. I remember the point of the scene was to collect together some of the characters who were "special" by the standards of the rest of their respective parties, but having them all playing ball together was an odd choice to me. So now Terra gets her own ball.
- When originally planning out this section of the story, I ran into the issue of how exactly the other Returners would know where to pick Terra up since they dropped her off in Jidoor initially but I knew she wasn't going to ultimately end up there. One thought I had was that they would end up at Figaro Castle and Leo would jokingly ask them to send a missive to their king that they were "under Imperial occupation" to get Edgar to quickly come there. But other than touching on the Leo/Edgar friendly rivalry I'd established earlier, there was way too little to gain from such a scene for the sheer amount of effort it would take for them to get to Figaro just to do that. So I settled on Terra just asking the shopkeeper to direct the Returners to Mobliz instead.
- Jidoor may be a hub for the arts and wealth, but that guy at the front of the town who can't stop telling you that it's the westernmost town on the world map has his priorities straight.
- Title is a direction to play "coaxingly".