#also Theia was always supposed to be a hrothgirl or at least half that and half miqo

[meximango]

Day 17 - Sally - Theia + Cahsi - G

Summary: Theia is supposed to go on an outing with her sister, but where is she?

“Where on Hydaelyn is that slippery little sister o’ mine? I’ve looked high ‘n low…” Theia muttered to herself as she lifted up the throw pillows on the couch for the third time. No, still not under there. “She better not’ve bailed on me!” Cahsi was a very busy woman. Being the star’s multi-time savior meant her hands were always kept full, spinning about five plates at once at any given time. But today was a designated quality time trip! That’s supposed to be different. Cahsi was forgetful. Theia loved her with the power of a primal, but that was just a fact, and it had always been the case. Nowadays, the scions or her friends or her creepy glowing mechanical orb thingy would usually keep her updated with her calendar appointments. This was a personal event, so Theia wasn’t sure if Cahsi actually remembered to put it on the books officially. They had dinner together last night, and their farewells had included a quick back and forth of: ‘fishing tomorrow at dawn, don’t forget’. ‘Yeah, yeah, got it.’ ‘You do? You sure?’ Yes, ‘mom’, gods. It’ll happen’ 

Well, it was supposed to happen now! The sun was starting to crest over the water, damn it! Her front door was unlocked when she checked, so she knew Cahsi used the key and had to be here somewhere. Her wife and kid were asleep, so she’s been trying to keep quiet, but she could scream about now. 

This could have been avoided if her sister stayed with her, but no, Cahsi deigned to stay at the inn rather than on her lumpy couch. She was used to roughing it on the ground when on the road adventuring, wasn’t she? She could’ve survived one night in her living room! (It really was quite lumpy, though. Theia got the feeling she knew what her Starlight Celebration gift from her sister was going to be this year).

She would have called her sister on her linkpearl until she picked up, but she didn’t know how to use the dang thing that well if she was being honest. She kept dropping it or losing it, and when she thought she finally got it, no voice came through. She’d already gone through every room in their small home at least twice, so she resorted to going just outside the threshold. There was a way to climb up onto her roof, if she was careful. The trellis was not made to hold the substantial weight of a hrothgar, but though it creaked ominously, it withstood her actions. Cahsi wasn’t really one for jump puzzles, and Theia even less so, but it was worth a shot, and the vantage point could help. After a quick transfer to the awning and a careful shimmy across and up some tiles, she reached the flat part on top of her roof that stuck out. It probably had a name, but did it matter? She really hoped none of her neighbors were awake to see this…

She raised her hand to help shield her eyes from the incoming glare as the sliver of rising sun reflected off the water and straight into her face. There were a decent amount of people milling about outside, seeing as she lived close to the docks. The boat they were supposed to board seemed to be doing a last call. Theia knew her sister wouldn’t have gotten on the ship without her, but she scanned through the group best she could anyway. Cahsi always liked to wear a bright pink floral shirt when they went fishing. She didn’t see any of the folks on board in that, so that ruled out another location. As Theia scanned the horizon and went through place after place–the markets, the guild, the main aetheryte plaza–with no sign of Cahsi, she began to feel the hope within her dim a bit. She knew fishing was not a favorite activity of her sister’s, but Cahsi was the one who implied she wanted to get better and learn more about it from the ‘resident expert fisher’ in her life, so Theia had been excited for this voyage. Now she could see the boat was on its way, too late for them to board. She decided to sit down at the edge of her roof, giving up for now. Cahsi always turned up eventually. Might as well watch the sunrise while she moped. It was beautiful, as it always was. 

It must have been a bell later that Theia finally heard her sister’s voice calling for her, much closer than she expected. She must have been too distracted watching the waves to notice her climb up here.  “Here you are! What’re you doing on the roof?” Theia pointedly did not answer her, nor turn around to meet her sister’s eye at first. She was mad at her. After Cahsi got sick of waiting and snuck up behind her to give her a hug, Theia lightly slapped her hands away, stood up, and turned around so she could tower over her. 

“Cassowary Gardner! Where have you been!?” Her tone was stern, and she did nothing to hide her scowl. 

She was so ticked that she let slip her sister’s original name. Er, well, as original as it got, since neither of them knew her birth last name. Cahsi didn’t actually mind getting called that, she’d told her that when she explained her name change post-Calamity, but Theia could tell by the look on her face that it felt weird to her. Well, right back at you, Cassowary! It still took her off guard when someone would refer to ‘miss Theia’ and meant the warrior of light, rather than herself. She felt honored that Cahsi chose her name when she thought she’d died, but it was a bit awkward when she turned out to be alive after all. Cahsi’s face, meanwhile, had transformed into a sheepish smile. Good! Maybe she felt properly chastised for once. Theia had used her ‘mom voice’ on instinct–the one that always made Cassowary drop whatever bug she was about to eat or sneak into her dress pocket as a child. She was getting more use out of it these days, her own kid in that phase where he shied from affection and thought being rude made him more grown up. While Cahsi had balked at first, she quickly recovered, remembering she was the powerful one these days and no longer a little kid. She still did look apologetic, at least. “Sorry, sorry! I got caught up in something…” “The only things that were supposed to be caught today were some spectacular, scaly, sea critters!” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, waiting for a continuation. 

“I can see that you’re mad, but I already checked in with a kind dock worker, and there’ll be another ship leaving today in about a bell. Which is actually a bit wild, because I didn’t think this was that big of a tourist attraction? Multiple ships a day? Or are there really that many fishermen out there? I know this is Limsa, but I somehow managed to avoid too much of that scene, the bars were more the scene, you know I had waitressing gigs here and there. Oh, and the arcanast’s guild was close by to the dock we have to depart from, but their basement always smelled more of books, which was definitely fortuitous for me because I spent a lot of time down there back when I was practicing–”

“Cas. Please.” Her patience was a bit worn thin now, no time for run-ons and rambling. If they only had the timeframe of a bell to work with and Cahsi still looked woefully underdressed and prepared, then they’d need to get back down into her house soon to rectify this.  “Ok, fine. Duty called, alright?” “Before the sun even rose?” “Listen, monsters don’t care what time of day it is, they’ll attack when they feel like it! But no, nothing so dire as that. I made it here with enough time to spare! I got as far as unlocking your door and was going to wait inside, get some coffee, read the morning paper. But then! I heard a ruckus, and a call for help.” “...And you went into hero mode.” “And I went into hero mode.” Cahsi nodded sagely and shrugged. Theia sighed. Much as she wanted to keep being angry for her sister being late, putting others’ needs above her own family’s, she couldn’t help but be proud of her sister going out of her way to help those in need. It was like pulling teeth getting her to do her chores when she was younger, let alone offer assistance to a stranger. Cassowary had been selfish, not the type to help someone with groceries or track down someone’s lost cat (her sister told her a lot of stories about her random quests; the girl complained a lot about these mundane tasks, but she still did them)--and Cahsi may still have had plenty of moments of being an asshole, but she was kind, too. She gravitated toward those in need, and Theia was happy she helped regular folk even in the little ways, rather than only when the entire star or a nation was at stake. 

Cahsi had continued in the meantime, unaware that she was already forgiven. “I regret that it ended up making me late, especially when this was important to you, but think of what would have happened if I wasn’t there! One snatched purse turned into a whole ordeal that involved talking to numerous other people having similar problems, and one thing led to another, I had to conduct an investigation–anyroad. It’s taken care of. That guy won’t be stealing from sweet little old ladies like Sally again. There’s a lot of happy people in hawker’s alley right now. But I lost track of time, and by the time I realized, the boat was long gone.” She let out a deep breath and tacked on, “I’m sorry.” Theia pulled Cahsi into a quick hug and ruffled her hair, messing it up. With an indignant squawk, Cahsi shooed her away and started making her way down the awning. “Forgiven, nerd. Try not to pull it again when we’ve got a time sensitive plan on the books, but I can’t fault you for random people being in need of a hero. Just remember there are others willing to help–it doesn’t always have to be you.” She paused to make sure Cahsi absorbed her words, then clapped her hands together. “Now! Why don’t we ‘Sally’ forth then, hmm? Get dressed in boat appropriate attire, and I’ll get the poles ready. The new boat’s not going to wait for us all day! If we miss another, I’m disowning you.”

“Ha! We’ll only miss the new boat if your old bones can’t keep up. Need some help down to the ground, grandma?”

Theia was half tempted to jump down and force her to catch her. ‘A test of her reflexes’, so to speak. She knew Cahsi would catch her. But she really wasn’t so young anymore after all, and better to leave her back intact for this trip.

“This ‘grandma’ is going to ‘school’ you, on that boat! I’m going to catch so many more big fish than you, you’ll be crying like a ‘shoal’ loser when you can’t even collect enough scripts with your guppies to buy a single materia.

“Argh, not the fish puns! Anything but that!”

“Get prepared for a bunch more, because we’re going to have a ‘fin’tastic time trapped on a boat together for half the day!”