Laughter and Tears (chapter 7 of 49, 6331 words)
The travellers begin to cross the Thunder Plains. Jecht’s behaviour keeps Braska in good spirits to begin with, but later the summoner experiences a setback.
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Maechen says, “Plains of lightning, plains of thunder, those who cross are torn asunder” – but when Tidus crosses the plains, even if he gets knocked over every five seconds he doesn’t appear to take any damage from it. So perhaps the lightning towers somehow nullify the potential for harm as well as diverting the bolts in their vicinity. I guess when the lads are heading south, they’re at least getting pushed in the direction they want to go every time the lightning knocks them over, so … that’s good?
Braska is in a relatively good state right now, so he’s doing his best to keep both his guardians happy, even if what Auron wants is incompatible with what Jecht wants and vice versa. And even if Braska is too indecisive to decide which of them is right about what they should do.
I wanted to include something somewhere about Auron’s clothes being impractical, because I didn’t think he wouldn’t have noticed by this point! But indeed, he sticks to his decisions … to his cost, etc., etc., … and also probably doesn’t own any other clothes at the moment.
The names of Zanarkand blitzball teams we know are the Abes and the Duggles, so I wondered if others might similarly start with letters early in the alphabet.
It seemed a bit inexplicable to me that Auron says “for posterity” in the sphere he takes on the Thunder Plains, so I’ve presented it here as a reference to what Jecht says before the recording starts. On the other hand, Braska’s “Oh, I was just … thinking” is very congruent with my interpretation of his character, but annoyingly, this is one of the few points in the story where it doesn’t make sense for him to be having a big sad moment – and if he was, you can bet he’d be telling Auron instead of being coy about it.
In the English version of the game, I don’t think it’s made entirely clear which of Jecht’s companions laughs out loud when the lightning strikes him down, but the Japanese version shows that it’s Braska! We already know he enjoys (delightful) ironies.
Auron’s only ready to see Jecht as anything other than dead weight when he realises Jecht could be the key to making Braska happy … which is kind of tragic tbh. Later in the story (much later), he will find that Jecht can also be of use to him in a way that relates more directly to his person.
He didn’t fancy having Auron order him around, but maybe he would be able to show his fellow guardian just how sophisticated his combat skills had become.
Sophisticated definitely isn’t the right word for it, but Jecht is probably just as successful in combat at this point as many of the warrior monks would be, despite his lack of training. Auron, for whom it’s all about technique, absolutely refuses to believe this. Nonetheless, Jecht is quite keen for the chance to show off his skills to Auron, because he secretly hopes Auron might be about to start respecting him.
He drew back and struck once again, not really picking a particular spot to aim for, but just trying to show Auron that surprise was one of the prime features of his arsenal.
This is obviously a Monty Python reference.
Jecht still isn’t sufficiently used to magic to remember it can be used in emergencies. Meanwhile, to Braska’s credit, he values Auron’s wellbeing above putting his headdress on. I don’t really know why Auron doesn’t go into the travel agency himself instead of waiting for Braska to come outside to find him … he’s just in a lot of pain, I guess. (And, from an authorial perspective, I just really wanted the image of Braska in the rain with his hair uncovered, pelting towards Auron at top speed because he cares about him so much, and so on …)
Braska is starting to make quite a bit of physical contact with Auron in this chapter … this will increase. Auron also seems to be experiencing “sharp feelings in his chest” quite frequently. There may even be a connection between the two.
I suppose the range of careers Hypello can enter diversifies after Yevon loses its stranglehold on Spira, given that in FFX-2, “marketing is our shpeciality”.
When Rin speaks to Tidus about Braska near the end of FFX, he mentions that Braska used to visit “the Home of those days”, which suggests the Home of Braska’s time was different from the one they have during the game. The Home we see in the game seems pretty well established, so I thought it would make sense to have them build it as soon as possible after Braska’s pilgrimage by suggesting the previous one was destroyed during the pilgrimage itself. I suppose it would make sense for them to use the Calm as an opportunity for building a new one.
Auron is probably used to Braska mentioning Girl at unexpected moments.
Eventually, Braska wiped his face with his free hand, and used the other to take hold of Auron’s more tightly, lowering it from his shoulder to the table, and then gripping it with surprising strength.
Once again, looks can be deceiving!
Even when Braska’s in a pretty bad state, he really tries to put on a brave face for Yuna. She is the only person for whom he does this.
Braska’s good mood didn’t last long, alas! But now that he’s laughed for the first time, he’ll get a few more moments of happiness.
