With Compliments (chapter 13 of 49, 4924 words)
Auron finds unexpected assistance at the Djose inn, and helps Braska recover after his encounter with the fayth.
Read here on praze.net or here on archiveofourown.org, or read the whole fic so far as a PDF or an EPUB.
This chapter is under 5000 words, probably the shortest! I’d labelled the first draft as “5k+”, but they all seem to shrink a little bit during the final editing process.
Jecht’s reaction to Braska’s emergence from the chamber of the fayth is already pretty different from the way he reacted in Macalania. I wanted there to be a very distinct evolution in the way he acts after Braska speaks to each of the fayth; this time he still doesn’t want to help, but he’s resigned to the fact that he has to.
We seem to learn the aeons’ names in FFX just by … getting to name them once Yuna receives them? So I guess that could stand for some mysterious process by which the summoner instinctively learns their names once the ritual is over.
Braska’s favourite hobbies include sleeping and apologising.
At the sight of Auron’s stern look, Jecht reluctantly stepped forward and met the hand with his own, finding it grabbed with surprising strength.
looool it appears to be another “looks can be deceiving” reference … I didn’t realise I’d put in this many of them, hahaha.
I’m imagining the gil purse as one of those little pouches with a metal clasp; basically this, but probably a bit larger.
It’s quite impressive that Auron doesn’t lose his temper at the inn, seeing as he’s usually so quick to anger. If the subject of discussion was anything other than Braska’s wellbeing he would probably start shouting a lot sooner.
Ordinary people really want there to be a Calm, so if they become aware of a summoner who’s succeeded in getting three aeons, they’re going to be quite keen to help that summoner continue their pilgrimage. And of course gaining several aeons is a sign that the fayth favour that particular summoner as well, so the people assume Yevon is or should be on their side, not realising that “Yevon” mostly refers to the whims of a few corrupt bigots in Bevelle. At this point the clerk is starting to think Braska’s condemnation might just be an honest mistake among the priests. This naivety among the provincial people of Spira is something that those in power can turn to their advantage, however.
Auron has a slight snobbishness towards the more rural parts of Spira, having spent most of his life in Bevelle. He tends to think they’re a bit unsophisticated … not that he is particularly sophisticated himself, admittedly.
Given that Rikku’s sphere grid starts with the Use ability and the one reference we get to the Al Bhed using magic is the story of Brother inexpertly casting it many years ago (to be fair, he was probably a child), and also their embrace of machina, it seems to make sense to assume they tend to use items instead of magic, while Yevonites stay away from most things beyond the standard potions and ether. Nobody bats an eyelid in response to the use of all these strange items on Yuna’s pilgrimage, but all the dedicated Yevonites on that journey are from Besaid and they probably aren’t aware of the intricacies of Al Bhed v. Yevonite customs – I mean, Wakka doesn’t realise Rikku is an Al Bhed even from her appearance, which suggests he doesn’t know very much about them beyond They’re Bad.
The tablets in the box are mana tablets, and the powder that makes the sleeping solution is sleeping powder, which I guess doesn’t cause damage when used on an ally. It will be instrumental to the plot later on …
Auron’s reaction to Braska telling him he must be very special is extremely low-key, but it fits with what he thinks about himself: he’s the best warrior monk in living memory, of course he’s special. What he thinks Ixion’s fayth has told Braska (ahem) doesn’t surprise him at all.
Braska’s attitude towards Auron and towards himself is a big mess of contradictions: he’s keen to praise Auron at every opportunity, and occasionally even seems to realise he might be asking too much of him, but he still doesn’t make any effort to make things any easier for Auron or to work on his own issues in the way that Auron wants him to – and at the same time he somehow also believes he doesn’t deserve Auron’s attention and that the best thing for him is just to die and leave everyone in peace, while also believing that as the summoner, his needs are more important than everyone else’s and everyone should just be nice and kind to him because he has suffered so much more than anyone else has … and of course there’s a reason why he’s not thinking straight, but it’s a pretty terrible situation for everyone really.
If he had been feeling better, he might have been able to give it more thought before deciding, but it always helped to talk about his worries.
Or as the kids would say, he loves traumadumping.
“It’s the only way – you see?”
I think in Braska’s mind this is more “the only way to proceed with my pathetic existence” than “the only way to bring the Calm and make everyone happy” … probably like an 80/20 split, I’d say.
as if he was concentrating very intensely on the promise he had sworn to himself.
Jecht is … kind of right about this, but there is another reason that Auron likes to give Braska big meaningful looks, perhaps even the same reason that he gets those chest pains … Jecht just absolutely hasn’t clocked this yet. Anyway, this whole thing is far too close to Emotion as far as Jecht is concerned, so denying it is the only option, right? Things would probably have gone differently if he’d admitted to Braska that Auron actually does still want to save him, and is at the temple trying to work out how to do so right at this very moment, but Jecht just doesn’t want to go there. It’s not his problem and he’s not going to be the one to bring it up (at least not for a very long time).
I got the idea of there having formerly been a water aeon at Baaj from some other source, probably someone’s fanfiction?
There is a lot of physical contact going on between Braska and Auron here … this is something I will say with increasing frequency.
A bit of an awkward moment as Jecht receives a hint that his Zanarkand may not be the one in Spira that they’re going to. But it’s all just something else to repress! Let’s never speak of it again (until, er, the next chapter).
I think the three of them would effectively have been lying in a row next to each other in the tent, so I have no idea how Jecht would have been kicking Auron’s back in particular, but I suppose he is famously athletic. I’m not sure whether that or the idea that Auron is somehow developing backache from as yet unacknowledged stress is more plausible.
This final exchange is also a bit of a reference to the fact that Auron wants everything to be controllable, while Jecht knows that some things can’t be.