Marbel Aerodynamics, Esthar

[Eddy]

Five airships were neatly accomodated by model on the great hall. All their doors and hatches opened, their cannons polished until they couldn't be shinier, the chromed parts of the display models glistening under the light of the day. They all stood around the central reception desk, from the Euphrosyne Agave Laying neatly on its display pedestal with its golden inlayngs, to the Towering Model BY22-0 that stood behind the receptionist, shadowing the two smaller airships besides it.

Flare was diligently working on the receptionist table. Instead of your usual office supplies, you'd find a blueprints board for a desk and an assortment of white pencils to draw on it/ His next new hit, the Model W9-D0 fighter airship being partially drawn on one of the large blue scrolls. Although not a Moogle, Flare could design a product of high quality and still deliver it without any flaws. This new work venture showed promise, non-violent promise, and he thought it would be perfect to lay out of the mercenary job for the sake of his new Daughter


But for now, he just wished that a familiar face would walk in through the lobby doors. He had sent quite a large number of letter, yet he did not see her at opening week, nor during any time last month. He had a favor to ask her, for closure, and he wanted to talk to her, not fight.

[Zaxton Books]

That familiar face would come, delay or not. Business, and mistrust, had kept her busy elsewhere. A returning sense of confidence and a feminine, understated need to close this particular book in the annals of her existence had brought her, at last, to New Balamb. Having no airship of her own, she of course had borrowed one, travelling first to Alexandia, third-rate as a peasant traveller, and then on to Balamb using her loaned ship, one of the old CDF-01X Blue Revolution fighters. There were maybe four of them that still burned through the sky with their distinctive blue drive-trails, with the technology for such engines lost years ago upon the death of Copernicus himself, when Spire blew and Clan Dynamo was shattered.

She arrived in the shop as an alien thing, bereft of armour. Having spent the last night in town, she wore now a comfortable, ankle-length skirt, a long-sleeved blouse, and a traveller's shawl. With her long, brown hair back in a french braid, and, wonder of wonders, make-up, she was almost unrecognizable as the sword-throwing, plate-wearing Cerulean Knight that had become the prototype for an entire division of Clan Dynamo and a whole division of the now-fallen Lycium.

Now, as her mid-twenties fast approached, she seemed almost-settled. From the cut of her clothing and the fineness of the fabric, she could have been some wealthy merchant... or some wealthy merchant's wife. She carried herself with all the poise of a delicate noblewoman, now unburdened with iron.

"... Hello Flare."

[Eddy]

Flare looked at the woman who walked into the shop. Of course, he wasn't dressed in his recognizable black clothes and white trenchcoat. He was wearing a white long sleeve shirt with black leggins and clogs, his ears weren't held down by a tiara, and were flopping happily in front of his face. He had all the looks of a forty-year-old auctioneer with the face of someone who hasn't even scratches his twenties.

"Yes, welcome to Marbel Aerodynamics, how may I... ?"

It took him a while to realize who he was talking to. In all of his years of knowing Alexis Coultier he had never once seen her without Armor (although he was fairly sure she had seen him almost clotheless, as it is with the viera), and the figure in front of him was truly, as described, alien and strange. He had to study her face before he was one hundred percent sure this was the same woman.

"Oh, Alexis, I didn't... You look absolutely beautiful."

That was Flare for you, never could stop his brutal honesty from reaching his mouth. If he were alive, he would blush at his utter lack of control. Instead, he showed this by wiping the white ink off his hands on a white towel that could've once been blue or yellow. He then moved his ears off from his face, and made his best, radiant smile.

"What I meant to say is... Ah, **** it. I thought you wouldn't come. Have a seat?"

He pointed at one of the comfy chairs near his desk.

"How was the trip? Can I get you something, a snack? I think we still have some cookies over from yesterday's Inaguaration"

[Zaxton Books]

Alexis smiled, softly, at his consternation. Many people who knew her only through the Old Clan Dynamo, or through her various pseudo-mercenary operations, experienced the same moment of woah when they saw her without the iron plating, the reaction was almost always the same. Flustered, and a little confused.

She sat down demurely. "Oh, no, that's fine. Maybe some water, if you have it."

[Eddy]

"Of course, of course. I always have some at hand." He did have a pitcher of cold water in his desk, after all. It was quite easierto just have it there than interrupt his work to get a drink every hour or so. He took two clean glasses and poured generously, leaving the picture at reach.

Flare got comfortable in his chair, undoing his cufflinks and the top two buttons of his shirt, it was a relief to have something other than a customer in front of him.

"Forty years of existing, and now is when I finally think of a way to make money and keep myself fed."

He swept his hair off his face, his blue eyes shining oddly under the artificial light.

"But, I bet you're wondering what this is all about, inviting you over that is. Right?"

[Zaxton Books]

Alexis accepted her glass politely, daubing her lips delicately with a handkerchief before she took a sip, to be certain that the lipstick wouldn't leave a mark. "Ah... thank you."

She folded her legs politely, one over the other. "... What's on your mind?"

[Eddy]

Flare too note of all these movements Alexis made, it was so different from how tomboyish she acted years ago. It made her more attractive to him, being a demon and having an astounding greed for refinement.

"A series of things, to be honest."

He took his glass, his fingers so long that they wrapped around the whole glass almost neatly. His lips glimmered as if they were glossed, and they touched the rim of the glass slowly, giving a small tip towards her when he was done, almost like a toast or Aknowledgement of sorts.

"The first one is that I wanted to apologize for trying to kill you. I know you'll never forgive me for that, but I thought you should know I'm truly sorry. It was a tough time for me, I couldn't feel love for anyone but for you, and It can be a bit...stressful to feel that way, and it still is... But I'm not going to get into details, it's not important, not anymore."

His hair flopped down to cover his eyes again. He reacted to this by fetching the cathiuzka, which was laying on the desk, just in case. There was a small, black stain in his hair, almost unnotissable. As he felt the need to spill his soul with the only person he was doomed to feel comfortable with, he repressed it, thinking there were more important matters at hand.

"The second thing is that I'd like you to meet someone I hold very dear to me. While we're at it, I need your help to protect this someone. I need this someone to learn how to fight. This someone holds me in a very high esteeme, and I can't bring myself to hurt the person in question for reasons that might soon become obvious. The person likes shields, albeit small ones... and the color pink. Think of it as the same favor you did to my mother when she wanted someone to teach me how to use a sword. I know it's rude to ask for a favor, specially seeing as we're not in that level of trust anymore, as much as it hurts me, but... Trust is trust."

Finally, he dug into a drawer and pulled out a small blue box.

"The last thing I had in mind was thoughts on a series of items. You see, I had this ring since my mother died, it's an Angel's Ring. After dad died, and rest assured that I still don't know how the hell he mannaged to do that, I set out to look for you. I don't know why, but I wanted to give you this ring. It used to mean something to me back then. Now... It's just a ring. I admit it,part of my previous grief stemmed from the fact that I crashed in a white out and was frozen for a solid two years without nobody looking for me, but hey, that, as they say, is life. Also, as you've noticed, I sell airships now. I wanted you to have one, as a way for saying sorry for the rude way of asking you a favor. I would've sent one to pick you up, but I didn't know which one you'd like..."

Flare took another sip of water.

"And that's what's on my mind. Oh, and if you want to go to dinner later, that would be awesome."

[Zaxton Books]

Alexis gave a brief, almost-astounded expression, taking another sip of her drink. "Well, I'm flattered, Flare. Thank you very much."

She bowed slightly, accepting the ring box, though she set it down to keep her hands free. "We'll call the past what it is, then. And, as for your airship... you'll have to show me around."

If they got up to do so, she would comment on the niceness of this presumably-new facility. "I have to say, I'm impressed. I'm working for the Figarolandesbanke, these days... don't see many airships, anymore. Maybe something appropriate, then, for a business traveller?"

She followed him a little further. "... I'd heard a rumour you had yourself a daughter."

[Eddy]

"Well, you know engineering has been my closset passion for a long time. Of course, I still need to feed, so I'm still working as Leraje's little hitman at least once a week."

Flare was starting to lead her towards one of the smaller, yet pretty spacious variations of the V6-X22 Airship, opening the hull door and letting her in first.

"The Figarolandesbanke? I've never heard of it. What do you do exactly?"

He was taking his time showing her the airship features, from the Treated and force armor-reinforced caoba wood hull, to the easily manuverable controls of the spacious cabain, and the comfortable Alexandrian leather seats.

"You can learn how to fly this baby and fire the Magic amplifier guns in about an hour flat, that's how easily maneuverable it is. I also have something more luxurious in stock if you..."

And here came that last comment. He stopped flat, impressed by the fact that information about his new daughter had slipped

"...Why, yes. She's not really my daughter, I can't have kids. But her father and I could've been twins... Who told you about Elena?'

[Zaxton Books]

"It's all rumours, but if you want total honest, I have you scryed upon at least once a week. Though I imagine that's hardly necessary now."

She ran her hand over the back of the seat. "The Figarolandesbanke is a commercial lending bank; loans to businesses and clans, mostly. A few of the larger trading guilds. I do security for branch offices; hiring and firing of guards, arrangement of security measures, design of vaults... that sort of thing. Though, I'm not that technical, so I usually higher Copernicus's son, Nathanial, to do the designs."

She sighed, at the mention of Copernicus. She'd always liked that little moogle, and she'd hoped he would have gotten a chance to enjoy some of his retirement, before the wasting sickness got the better of him.

"... What're the specs on this bird? Speed, maneuverability, so on?"

[Eddy]

"This airship offers average cruising speed, with a top sped of seventy miles per hour, a good gas mileage, an easy to learn and use navigational system, moderate defense capabilities, and a great cargo space. This is our main consumer model because it feels as smooth as driving a yacht, and the bigger version is great for traders. I'd like to teach you how to fly this model, even if it's not to your liking."

He sat down on the copilot's seat and buckled himself up. Once the word scry came out of her mouth, Flare smiled his best, toothy smile.

"Scryed? Are you the reason I feel like I'm being watched every time I shower or I'm brushing my fur?"

He couldn't help but laugh at this point. It just seemed ridiculous to him that someone would go to that length to supervise him. Once he finished, he placed a hand on top of Alexis' hand, his eyes going from her to the chair she was touching

"Please, sit. Once You learn how to drive, I'll let you see the other ships, I have something more... luxurious at home that you might like"

[Zaxton Books]

"I'm not a complete newbie at flying, you realize."

She sat down, strapping herself in, if at all possible, and made an examination of the controls. "... Of course, it's typically fighters I fly. Larger ships can be a bit more tempermental."

[Eddy]

"Those are purely for decoration. The ship is built so that the cabain would be hardly rucked if struck or in case of a crash. But yes, I guess you can wear the seatbelts if you like, you mortals are damaged so easily..."

He was clearly mocking Alexis in a playful kind of way, but he proceeded his lecture.

"Before any customers walk out of this dock with an airship, we're requiered by Balamb law to reinstruct them on how to fly an airship. They might institute a law on making it mandatory to own a license, but due to the many different airship guidance mechanisms, it's been really hard to do so. As you might have noticed, the flight mechanism on my designs are quite simple because the airship is fueled by a Dark Matter Energy Core. This means I eliminated the need of a fuel dump lever and a heat intensity regulation pump. All you need to pilot this baby are the velocity lever and the steering wheel. This wheel offers a more fighter style steering, meaning that you can go highger by pulling the wheel towards yourself and dive by pushing it away.. Of course, the pride and joy of all my models is the vertical ascence button. You press it and the airship goes into astraight out ascension. you press it to stop once you've reached height to your hearts contempt. and finally press it to descend slowly, which will be so delicate that it will not harm the ship if you forget to press it to stop for a little while. It makes taking off and landing much more easier."

Flare started to get comfortable, he lifted his legs and placed them soundlessly on the dashboard "You have no idea how annoying it is for a viera to wear a buttoned shirt, so you don't mind if I take it off? I mean, seeing as this isn't business and all." If Alexis hadn't noticed, there were small beads of sweat on Flare's forehead. He had taken a lot of careful measures to not let said sweat stain his clothes. It was a business move for him, an uncomfortable but wise move

[Zaxton Books]

Alexis smirked slightly, setting the aircraft into flight. "... Prefer if you didn't, to be honest. No offense, or anything... but maybe we should call this business."

[Eddy]

Flare sighted softly and rolled his sleeves. "Latitude 55.6 Longitude 79.7. In other words, go left for about thirty minutes and you'll see the landing pad. I'm pretty sure Elena's gonna have my ass about being late again"