Who: Peony and Cid Where: The Library When: Friday morning What: Random encounter Rating: Low. Status: Complete.
Cid threw the books away from him as he slipped between the aisles. One book here and another there were just thrown off to the side or behind him, haphazardly, with little care how they ended up as he moved through, “Read it, read it, read it...wrong..wrong… right, but obvious...” he sighed and moved through the section before then turning and moving towards one of the scholars and looked him over, “Where are the new books? There should be new books… new books that are correct really, and not on things I already know.”
The boy looked up at him confused and the Cid just threw his hands up, “Oh, nevermind…” He moved on from the scholar and began to rummage again as if shocked by the fact he’d read everything in this library to the point that new books weren’t even that interesting to him.
Most of the books he was looking at were either on the essence of time or flan, the essence of time books, most of them were actually written by him. At least a good few at any rate, and he seemed annoyed at the fact that nothing new about time was there.
“Really now, has no one managed to study time besides me in the past month?”
Peony looked up from her book with a quizzical expression on her face, confused for a moment about the source of the noise. The expression cleared once she saw Cid on his rampage, a scholar following along in his wake, picking up books as he flung them with a pained look and setting them back on the shelves.
She was accustomed to his oddities, however. She and Penelope spent time together periodically, so peony had been Privy to Cid and his eccentricities for some years. She might have let him keep on, but the poor scholar looked so harried that she decided to attempt a distraction. Fortunately, knowing his fixation on flan and other strange creatures, she thought she might have just the thing.
“Good afternoon, Cid,” she said with a small smile as he approached the table at which she was working. “I was hoping to consult your opinion on a matter of… professional interest. Have you a moment to spare for me?”
Cid thumbed through a few pages of a book before shouting a bit of an ‘ugh’ before tossing it away again and began to move when he heard a voice calling out his name. He quickly spun until he spotted Peony and he smiled brightly at the girl, “Peony! Hello! Absolute pleasure meeting you again, and of course! Yes I have plenty of moments to spare, what sort of opinion were you needing? I have plenty of those as well.”
That’s when Cid noted the scholar standing near him and turned to stare at him, looking him over and then at the books the boy was carrying, “Why…” He tilted his head, “What is it? Do you need something? No, I don’t need a single one of those books really you should just put them away, but thank you.”
He then turned back towards Peony and dropped into the seat across from her, “Is it a question on time, perhaps magic? Perhaps time magic? Boring thing really, well not that boring, but the study of time is far more interesting in and of itself. I love it really, but yes, please ask your question! I’m sure I can answer it quite well.”
“I am certain you can answer without much trouble at all,” Peony agreed after a wave of her hand at the boy along with a sympathetic smile. Hopefully, he would realize to put away the books and leave her to deal with the perpetrator of the unexpected mess. Cid meant well, certainly, but she could tell the boy’s distress would only mount if he remained.
In contrast to his enthusiasm, her tone was smooth and unhurried, her phrasing polite. “It is not about time magic, I am sorry to say -- my knowledge on the subject is quite limited in comparison to yours -- but I thought perhaps you might be just the one to ask about another matter. Your knowledge of creatures too rare for a common bestiary is well-documented.”
She had been thinking of asking anyway -- perhaps she might manage to find an answer for Cyclone after all. “I have had a most curious report,” she said, “of a chocobo standing fully twenty feet tall and wielding quite powerful magicks in its own right. I have never come across such a thing previously in my studies. Have you?”
Cid listened as intently as he could, though his eyes were wandering around the library staring at the spines of the books he’d read trying to find one that caught his attention but none did. Nonetheless he was always fully aware of what Peony was saying and asking, and quickly turned to face her when she mentioned the twenty foot tall chocobo. He stared at her a moment and blinked a few times, “Twenty feet tall? Really? That’s… well that’s rather brilliant isn’t it? A bit absurd really, at what point would a bird really need such a height? Especially if it can offer magical attacks…”
Beginning to tap his chin as he began to walk back and forth in a pacing motion contemplating it, “I’ve seen yellow chocobos, and red chocobos, and black chocobos. I’ve seen chocobos that can call on magic of varying sorts, speedy chocobos, quite vicious chocobos. Never, though, have I come across a twenty foot tall one. That’s a rather brilliant thing…”
He then blinked and glanced at her, “Have you seen one? Where is it? I must see it immediately; quick, drop everything that you’re doing we’re going to find one. Or, well, perhaps you haven’t if you’re studying them. Why are you studying them? OH! Has someone else mentioned one?!”
She let him talk through his thoughts,waited until there was a pause in his monologue before offering, “It was yellow, I believe, much like a standard variant of the bird -- only quite large, and magickal.” And, it appeared, rare indeed, if he had never heard of it.
“I have not seen it, I’m afraid,” she said. “Nor did those who saw it succeed in capturing it, and it appears the bird has gone on its way leaving naught but a feather or two behind. I had thought I’d ask because a colleague mentioned her experience with it, but I see now that my suspicions were correct and the bird was a rare specimen indeed. Rather brilliant, as you say.” She doubted those who had been felled by the bird would agree, but on a purely academic level she could see the appeal.
She paused a moment, hoped that Penelope might forgive her for this, then said, “I do know roughly where it vanished, but I am afraid the journey may be rather arduous -- and dangerous, if the bird were to reappear.”
Cid listened to her talking about this chocobo and tapped his finger against his chin, thinking on this as he began to pace back and forth once more, “Too bad that you have not seen it; it would give the story just a bit more credence, however I do trust that you trust your friends a great deal and their accounts so that is brilliant, and this creature sounds so rare indeed that it must be an evolving breed, or perhaps an anomaly! A mutant breed, that if bred could create an evolved breed.”
He clapped his hands and turned to face her immediately, waving off the argument of dangerous and arduous, “A scientist should never fear danger or work, Peony, when hoping to discover the wonders of the world. Yes yes yes, if you can tell me where this creature is then I will, of course, immediately follow your directions promptly to the correct location and look into the matter happily.”
He reached down and took her hand, shaking it quickly, “This is brilliant news!” He sat down then, “Tell me everything you know, everything about this creature, the tales of it, everything. Then I’ll run home and inform Penny to begin packing immediately.”
“I was hesitant to believe the tale myself, when I first heard it,” Peony said mildly at his incredulity. “However, I assure you, the firsthand account I received was quite reliable.” Cyclone was honest, and Peony had never known her to exaggerate such important details. She had not spoken with Gale but she had no doubt that their stories would match almost exactly.
Her gently amused smile did not fade as she told him, “I do not mention danger to deter you, only to give you some idea of what you might face. Chance favors the prepared mind, as they say. If you wish to go and investigate, I see no reason why you should not do so.”
She folded her hands on the table before recanting the tale as she had heard it: the merchant with his stolen wares, the half day trek, and the battle with the bird which had defended itself viciously before seeming to vanish as though it had never been. “I believe if you follow the Rydollen High Road, you will find the spot about twenty miles out,” she finished. “You may wish a chocobo of your own -- a more mundane sort, perhaps -- to speed the journey. There are signs of battle remaining, I would imagine; there were magicks unleashed by both sides.” Another smile, then, “If you do find anything, I would certainly be very curious to hear of it.”
Cid listened intently, not jotting anything down as he had a remarkable memory that clung to every word and phrase this woman threw at him. He let his head wrap around the information and already began to piece together some sort of picture ahead, and then nodded quickly, “Right! Brilliant, so I must go immediately. And of course you’ll be curious, who wouldn’t be? I’ll let you know everything there is necessary to know, of course. And more! I cannot imagine what wouldn’t be necessary, really.”
Then Cid jumped from his seat and placed both hands on either side of her head before kissing her forehead, “Oh this is brilliant, really it is. I’ve not been on a true adventure like this in some time and really it’s wearing me down, and Penny obviously. She’s become rather accustomed to the comfort of home; so much so that when a Flan escaped and simply defended itself she became annoyed and ran away! I mean, really, was that really necessary?”
He then shook her hand quickly before turning around and began to think, talking in a fashion so quickly it’d be hard to follow, as he began to list off all of the equipment he would need, “I do intend to find something, and in either case I’m sure it’ll be fantastic in its own right.”
He then blinked, “OH! I WILL BRING THE FLAN! I will see how they react to such a long trek, also the idea of ‘camping’, and then their reaction to such an abnormality within the known world. Oh, Peony, you have blessed me this day. I will throw you a large dinner!”
As Cid began to ramble about his preparations, Peony smiled indulgently. “Safe travels,” she told him as he turned to leave, clearly caught in the throes of his own excitement. “I am certain your journey will be quite educational.”
As he left, she thought that she might have to apologize to Penelope, after all. But the library was once again calm and quiet, and no books were being flung about. All in all, a successful conversation indeed.