Shoopuf Milk (chapter 16 of 49, 7300 words)
The travellers arrive in Luca, where an emergency lockdown forces them to wait out the afternoon at a bar. A slip of the tongue briefly destabilises Braska, while Auron finds himself worrying about the next portion of the journey.
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As always, Braska is eager to hear about other people’s misfortunes in great detail.
“Pnyeh tnyeh, we call it – a lot of people find more opportunities on the mainland.”
Shoutout to our wee country.
I’m pretty sure that Girl made the first move in her relationship with Braska. He probably had no idea she was interested in him, although to be fair, he wasn’t exactly looking for a partner during his career as a missionary.
Even though everyone discriminates against the Al Bhed, there are probably more opportunities for them in Yevonite society. They probably end up doing certain menial jobs that the Yevonites believe beneath them.
Shelinda and Maechen call Rin “Mr Rin” in the game, so I’m not sure if the Al Bhed would really do so, but I think it’s quite cute.
There aren’t actually any velar fricatives in Al Bhed as it’s spoken in the game, iirc, but that’s not going to stop me. It’s a weird sound for Braska to cite as something difficult to pronounce … maybe he’s misremembered the name. I don’t think he’s as bad at Al Bhed as he claims to be (he’ll use it a bit more later in the story), but as we know, he loves shit talking himself.
Braska definitely would have been bad at working out his relationship had been discovered. Girl was certainly shrewder than him, and ought to have realised, but I guess she was too in love with him to notice. (remind you of anyone? ahem)
As will be discussed in a few chapters’ time, I don’t think Auron is under any illusion that Braska has actually been “called to serve Yevon”. At this stage, though, he’s happy enough to parrot the standard lines even if they don’t really reflect what he actually believes.
I like how Auron and Braska don’t react at all to Jecht’s assertion that they have “some weird messed-up idea of friendship where it’s more like one of you is the other one’s slave.” I guess they just know it’s true. Sigh.
Mercenary swordsmen are probably common in Spira, given how dangerous it is to simply get from one place to another.
They never do buy the “few potions” Auron suggests getting when they arrive in Luca … I bet he’s annoyed they end up having to pay Kilika prices.
I think the whole sequence where Braska drops his staff when the alarm sounds and Auron is the one to pick it up says a lot about their relationship.
Auron is very keen to get involved in a big battle! So keen that he even forgets Braska will want him to stay by his side while Sin is around.
I thought perhaps the Guado might enjoy drinking shoopuf milk, seeing as they live near the Moonflow.
Braska orders a chrysanthemum tea because chrysanthemums symbolise death in various cultures. Maybe this is also the case in Spira and Braska is deliberately ordering a tea made from a flower associated with death because he’s so obsessed with it, but it’s possible that the symbolism doesn’t stretch to the in-world level.
I’m not sure what the characteristics of a “Yevonite bar” would be, but I’ll defer to Braska’s judgement there.
Jecht is probably one of those people who enjoy almost all flavours (so am I tbf). I’m imagining shoopuf milk as being a bit like lait ribot, although the details of the smell are entirely invented.
“Bar, café, what’s the difference?” said Auron impatiently,
This line and the entire paragraph before it are a stupid joke about how in the game, to quote Yuna, “someone said they saw Sir Auron in a cafe”, and then she and Tidus go to look for him in the bar instead.
Braska’s line was originally “Thank you, darling,” but I thought “baby” would make the mistake more obvious and cause him additional embarrassment. It’s probably not something he ever called Girl in company: he seems a bit too refined to use that exact style of term of endearment openly. It’s a bit sad that the waitress assumes he’s just trying to pick her up, as I suppose that tells us something about how unscrupulous Yevonite men often treat Al Bhed women. The existence of brothels mostly offering Al Bhed women is probably an open secret as well.
I like how Auron is so baffled by being asked whether the waitress should bring seasoning that he just says “What?”
Braska’s mood varies quite erratically in this chapter, and Auron is understandably confused. He’s trying to read something into it, but honestly, he’s not going to get anywhere.
Braska doesn’t quite articulate this here, but he pretty much blames himself for Girl’s death: if she hadn’t run away with him, she would never have had to travel back to visit her family and make the sea voyage that caused it in the first place. It’s not a particularly logical thing to think, but I believe it’s common for the bereaved to feel a sense of guilt about what has happened, and in Braska’s case this has ballooned over the past three years into a belief that he’s somehow responsible for everything bad that has ever happened to him and his loved ones, and that the only way he can make up for it all is by dying himself. (Having said that, he never seems to think any of Auron’s troubles were his fault, which is interesting.)
So Braska is now telling himself that it’s ok to appear to be happy from time to time because it’s a way of making sure he’ll be strong enough to go to Zanarkand and sacrifice himself … meanwhile Auron is interpreting those moments as signs that there might be a way of convincing Braska that life is worth living after all. Pain 🙃
There are currently three instances of “What is it now?” in the fic, but I’m pretty sure this particular one is inspired by a scene in FF16 where Dion says the same thing. Looking this up now, I see that there still appears to be no searchable script for this game available on the internet almost two years after it came out … yet another sign that the corporate internet of the 2020s is actually shit.
Most of my editing of this chapter this week revolved around the directive “make Braska more depressed” … sorry.
I think Auron’s water issue is obvious enough to readers by now, but this is the first time he’s thought about it properly. At least he’s not having a full-on panic attack this time! He’ll be fine, right … right??
As usual, needing to help somebody else is impetus for Braska feel a bit better; he’s quite happy to cast white magic on Auron at this point, although if somebody had asked him a moment ago, he definitely would have complained about being too tired and weak to use magic.
There’s something very powerful about the sea as a source of imagery, the idea that it’s beautiful and yet highly dangerous, effectively transparent but unfathomably deep, eternal but never the same – and in Spira, there’s the added threat of Sin, as well as the fact that ancient cities are buried under there. And water is very meaningful for all three of our lads: Braska’s wife died at sea, Jecht is pretty much Zanarkand’s most prodigious swimmer, Auron was (mumble mumble) in the water. The sea is very important in my own culture as well, so it seems pretty natural to me for it to be such a significant presence in the story. I spent a couple of days last week in a landlocked country; I really can’t imagine that kind of life, crazy stuff.