Skill Upgrade (chapter 22 of 49, 7864 words)
Jecht learns some useful new abilities while Braska embarks on a tour of the island. Auron attempts to assist with a construction project, and attracts some unwanted attention.
Read here on praze.net or here on archiveofourown.org, or read the whole fic so far as a PDF or an EPUB.
Jecht knows it’s dangerous to try waking up Braska, so he makes Auron do it without even thinking twice.
Arguing with Auron probably makes Braska feel better, because he has issues, I guess.
We don’t see Braska’s reaction to being told Auron’s attentiveness is a sign of Yevon’s favour; at this stage, it probably annoys him quite a lot for several reasons, so he almost certainly has to make quite a lot of effort at maintaining his composure … even “Let’s be on our way, please” is quite abrupt by his standards.
I think the way I’m depicting learning magic suggests that you just have to concentrate very hard for a long time and then you’ll eventually acquire whichever ability is most suited to your temperament. This obviously has no basis in canon.
Auron reached for the cup, placing his lips against the hollowed reed that served as a straw;
It’s the celebrated indirect kiss!
I feel like Braska brushing Auron’s hair out of his face and then getting the ick when he realises Auron is all sweaty kind of sums up his attitude towards Auron in general.
Auron is obviously the kind of person whose solution to feeling a bit ill is just “do more work” (same tbh).
I have never actually fainted but I did have an almost-fainting experience a couple of years ago, and one of my first thoughts was that I needed to write down immediately how it felt for the purposes of this scene.
I feel like the Tiki and Amna scene is probably inspired by something from another work of fiction, although I’m not sure what that would have been. This is obviously a very man-centred fic but I’ve tried to make a lot of the side characters women in order to make up for that slightly; it’s nice to give them a range of temperaments. These two are clearly quite different from Ginnem, and Auron evidently wishes they wouldn’t bother him, but I’m glad they can spend a few moments having a nice time with an attractive young man (although it’s not such a nice time for him).
There is definitely a sword-as-dick metaphor going on here.
Braska recovers surprisingly quickly from his minor breakdown; being on Besaid is just that good for him. Meanwhile, it’s definitely not having the same effect on Auron.
Braska really thinks Auron might just have managed to get over his water problem in a matter of days. Auron is doing better, but it’s certainly not over, ahem.
There’s an old piece of fanart on pixiv that I definitely won’t be able to find if I try looking right now (edit: found by stevie, reliable fanart sleuth), but it’s a drawing of Braska seen from behind, standing at the edge of the sea with his headdress off and his hair blowing in the breeze. I’m sure this image was in my mind when I wrote his “standing on the shore having a peaceful cry” moment, although he keeps the headdress on in my version and his hair wouldn’t be long enough to blow around like that. I was trying to capture the same feeling: he’s just one man, dwarfed by the expanse of the sea in front of him, and he’s taken it upon himself to heal everyone’s pain with his sacrifice.
Just as we’re getting into some (increasingly frequent) Auron angst, we find Jecht again … not a moment too soon. He’s very useful for lightening things up.
Braska is quite fond of telling stories about his younger days, although there are obviously certain topics that he usually stays away from.
“Right as rain” in this context is roughly equivalent to “the only fayth you need is faith in yourself”, I reckon.