Disclaimer: I don't own Bravely Default, all rights to the owners.
"What do you mean we're out of fuel?" Edea hisses.
"I mean what I mean!" Ringabel hisses back. "We don't have fuel!"
"It's an Eternian airship! We shouldn't need fuel!" Edea whispers harshly.
"It's not my fault the Eschalot is an older model!" Ringabel grumbles. "And without the skystone we have no backup power source."
"We're in the middle of the fucking ocean!"
"I know!"
"Umm, is everything alright in here?" Tiz asks, peeking through the door to the command room.
"Peachy." Edea growls.
"We're fine, Tiz." Ringabel says. "Just some technical difficulties."
"Yeah, we'll be fine. Leave it to us." Edea says. Apparently they both have the same idea of not telling Tiz how bad their situation actually is. No need to worry their companions when there's nothing they can do. "Tiz, do you know how to make a fishing rod?"
"Well sure." The boy blinks. "Do we need one?"
"Yes. A few, actually." Edea says. "Would you mind making some?"
"Sure." Tiz says. "...why do we need them?"
"Our trip might take a bit longer than we expected." Ringabel says. "Just a small, ah, supply failure. Fear not though! We can still rotate the propellers manually."
"Right." Tiz says, looking a bit uncertain as to what exactly Ringabel is saying but knowing it's not good. "I'll find some string."
Tiz ducks out of the room, and Ringabel and Edea turn back to each other. "How much food do we have?" Edea whispers.
"A week's worth." Ringabel whispers back. "More than enough for the trip, if we had fuel, but we'll be cutting it close if we have to manually operate the propellers. Cutting it close if we're lucky, I should say. The fishing rods are a good call. We're going to need more food."
"Why didn't you get more fuel Ringabel?" Edea grumbles. "Since you apparently knew that this stupid ship even needed fuel."
"We didn't exactly have a place to resupply." Ringabel points out. "Ancheim doesn't sell airship fuel. Florem does, but…"
"But?"
"I forgot we were low." Ringabel coughs.
Edea glares.
"Besides, do you expect me to carry a heavy fuel can all the way back from Florem?" Ringabel asks.
"Yes."
"Such a cruel, cruel woman…"
"We're stuck in the middle of the ocean, you have no place to complain." Edea growls. "This is your fault Ringabel."
Ringabel winces. "Alright, alright."
"You better get us out of this alive."
"Yes Ma'am."
Edea stomps out of the room, and Ringabel sighs and opens the hatch to the engine room down below them. He climbs down the ladder, and spends a moment locating the cabinet he somehow knows holds the backup gears and the manual turn wheel in case of this exact sort of situation. (Though it might be more accurate to call them cranks than wheels.)
It's still baffling to him how he knows so much about airships. He knows without reading instructions exactly how to fit the gears onto the back of the propellers' axels in just the right place that he can fit the manual turn wheel between them so someone can rotate both propellers at once through turning the wheel.
Ringabel experimentally grabs the large handle on the wheel and tries to turn it. He has very little success. He's strong, sure, but not strong enough to propel an entire ship. Turning this wheel is a two man job.
That would explain why the handle is so big. It's designed to be rotated by two people at once.
Putting on his most convincing and not-at-all worried smile, Ringabel climbs up the ladder and moves out of the command room into the main room where his friends are assembled.
The Eschalot is not a big ship. More than half its size is made up of the balloon it uses to fly. The cabin is only about half the size of your standard log cabin. A standard Eternian airship isn't meant to be lived in, it's meant to be a transport between two locations.
That's a bit of a problem, because there are only four rooms in the airship. The command room, the engine room, the main room (which houses the cannons, seats for troops, and the main exit hatch), and the storage room.
Tiz is currently sitting in the middle of the room cannibalizing the wood from an empty crate to make four rods while Agnès watches in concern while Edea argues with Airy about something.
"Fish. You expect us to eat fish?" Airy shouts. "Are you thick-headed? Have you lost your wits? Fish is awful!"
"You're more than welcome to eat nothing you ungrateful little jack-"
"Ladies! No need for harsh words." Ringabel soothes. "It will only be for a few days!"
"Hopefully." Edea mutters.
Airy isn't content to let the matter lie though. "Yeah, but fish? Besides, Agnès is vegetarian!"
"Agnès will eat from our supplies while the rest of us have fish then." Ringabel says.
Edea makes a face when Ringabel says that, but she doesn't say anything. Agnès is quite stubborn about her vegetarianism and Edea doesn't care for that argument right now.
"I know Edea said we're not in trouble, but this sounds somewhat serious." Agnès speaks up. "Do we know how far out from shore we are?"
"Uhh… no." Ringabel coughs. They can't see the shore on the horizon, so at best he can guess how far along they are based on travel time. "But it shouldn't be far. It will only take us a few days of manually operating the propellers. Two people are going to be needed to make them work, so we can work in shifts."
"I'm not sure how much help I'll be in that." Agnès murmurs, rubbing her not-so-muscled arms.
"Then you can work with Edea. Your strength will balance out." Ringabel reassures.
"Oh sure, shackle me with the extra work." Edea gripes under her breath.
Tiz raises his head. "I wouldn't mind working with-"
"Shut up Tiz." Ringabel and Edea interrupt at the same time. The shepherd shakes his head and returns to making the fishing rods.
"The two that aren't working can fish." Ringabel says. "We can set something up to hold the rods, two per person. We can be efficient."
"How much fish do you think we'll need?" Airy scoffs.
"Better safe than sorry." Ringabel retorts. "Or would you rather we chance starving to death, good fairy?"
Airy mutters something but doesn't keep arguing. Ringabel understands. Everyone is annoyed, but Edea and Airy are the worst at hiding their annoyance. That's really the only reason they're putting up a fight at the moment. They need an outlet, and Ringabel is an easy target.
Agnès seems to have the least understanding of what's going on. She sits near Tiz in one of the seats, watching him whittle the rods into shape, not really paying much attention to everyone else.
Tiz understands their situation. His urgency in making the rods makes that clear. He's simply the most calm. Even Ringabel knows that he is only 'calm' because of how easy it is to hide things behind a smile, but Tiz has a calm born of dealing with unexpected setbacks all the time.
Or maybe Ringabel is simply hoping that someone here has their head on straight, because he would hate to be the most level-headed person here.
The rest of the day is chaos of the most subdued sort. Edea grumbles all the way through her first shift turning the wheel with Agnès (and eventually just kicks Agnès out of the engine room and turns the wheel by herself, because while it's less effort with two people it also takes more coordination and Edea doesn't have the patience to develop a rhythm with someone and is more than capable of operating the wheel on her own), Airy constantly groans and complains while both when asked to do something but also when she's not doing anything, Agnès is put out by Edea shooing her off and sulks next to Tiz for a long while, and eventually takes the task of watching the fishing rods onto herself as a way to be useful. Tiz… is Tiz. He takes everything in stride, and spends his time either watching the rods he's wedged into chair seats to keep them from getting pulled out to sea by nibbling fish or working on something else, stringing their tent between thin planks of wood.
(Sails, Ringabel realizes belatedly. Tiz is making sails. Ringabel has no idea where to attach the sails, but it's a good idea on Tiz's part. Ringabel is a bit embarrassed he didn't think of that.)
Tiz is also the one to make dinner. Another crate is sacrificed for firewood, and Tiz makes soup over the fire. No fish bit their lines, but one failed afternoon of fishing isn't something to get worried about yet.
Yet.
The last issue of the day comes in deciding where to sleep. They've never had to sleep in the Eschalot before. Not properly, anyways. The most they've done is nap in the chairs while someone else takes the wheel on longer journeys. Proper, long-term sleep for the whole group isn't something they've had to think about before.
Rather than sleep in the main room, they all crowd into the command room and set up their bedrolls there. Something about the small enclosed room and close-quarters is reassuring rather than claustrophobic.
The only upside is that no one needs to keep watch. With the exit hatch closed now that they're done fishing for the day, nothing can get in.
The moonlight is dim that night, and with everyone unwilling to have a lit fire in the tiny room while they're all asleep they have to deal with utter darkness as they try to find some comfort on the metal floor. Their bedrolls only provide so much padding beneath them.
It's going to be a long night for everyone.
I figured Tiz would be a godsend in a survival-type situation. He seems like he'd have the most practical skills in the group just by virtue of all the random farm tasks he's done in the past.