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pangolinheart · 1 year

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Rhiki & Cid

[[WWWW I thought this one would be one of the easier ones but it was actually one of the most difficult. But congrats on suggesting the single biggest non-villain NPC anyone has ever submitted to me through this ask game.]]

CId Garland | M'zhet Tia | Lahabrea

145… 146.

There were exactly 146 rivets holding the ceiling in place. Though, perhaps she had miscounted? Maybe she should count them a third time, just to be sure…

“I’m bored,” Rhiki complained, swinging her legs back and forth against the side of one of the wooden crates she lay sprawled upon. She turned her head to look at Cid, who sat crouched in front of a tall magitek pylon of some sort. It had been nice to watch him work, at first – the endearing crease that formed in his brow when he concentrated, the tension in his biceps as he tightened a bolt. It was cute, how engrossed he got in his projects. But that had been several hours ago, and the charm had slowly worn off.

“If you have more pressing engagements, my dear, I won’t keep you.” Cid didn’t look up from his tinkering, which annoyed her, but she could see the small smile on his face.

“In fact, I don’t think I remember asking you to come.”

Rhiki did her best to sulk – not that he could see. “Well, you weren’t paying enough attention to me, so I decided to come here and make you. I don’t get that much time off these days, you know?”

His eyebrows lifted in a way that told her he was about to say something, though he remained focused on his work. She continued before he could open his mouth. “But no, you’re right. That was silly of me. After all, how could I, the Warrior of Light – and your girlfriend! – possibly expect to compare to the majesty of… whatever that is.” She waved her hand in the general direction of the device.

Cid sat back on his heels, finally glancing up at her. “It’s a prototype for an improved airship-mounted forcefield generator,” he pointed out. His tone was more amused than annoyed.

“Obviously,”

He sighed, setting down the screwdriver he had been holding and fully relaxing into a sitting position. “I’m sorry, Rhiki. I do want to spend time with you, but we’re on a tight deadline for this project.”

“I know,” she mumbled. She shouldn’t complain, really. She was being petulant. They were both busy people, and neither could afford to drop everything whenever the other became available. His work was important, both to him and to the wider world, just as hers was. She knew she wasn’t actually competing with his creations for his affection. She knew that, but sometimes knowing it was different from feeling it.

Cid sat quietly for a few seconds, watching her through soft blue eyes. Then, his smile returned, as if he had finally thought of a way to make all of the pieces of his latest contraption fit together.

“Here,” He beckoned, “Why don’t I show you how to do this part, and you can help me?”

Rhiki sat up so fast it made her dizzy. “Really? You never let me play with your magitek stuff!”

He laughed at her enthusiasm, “Why not? The hardest part’s already done. All that’s left is the finishing touches.”

Excitedly, she pushed herself off of the pallet of crates and trotted over to join him at the base of the forcefield generator. He scooted back a few inches to allow her to sit in front of him and share his view of the open panel. He placed an arm over her shoulder and began pointing to some of the incomprehensible components in front of her. “See this wire? It’s carrying a current that needs to go here,” he angled his wrist to point at another element slightly above and to the left, “So that a rotor deeper inside can turn. So, to do that we need to – Here, let me show you,”

He lowered the hand he had been pointing with to grasp her own and gently guided it to the section he had indicated. She couldn’t feel the warmth of his skin nor the callouses on his fingers through his thick work gloves, but the gentle yet firm grip was familiar and comforting. His broad chest pressed against her back as he leaned forward. The not-quite-embrace was so soothing it made it difficult to concentrate, but she tried her hardest to focus. For once, she wanted to be a good student. It wasn’t every day he made an effort to include her in the minutiae of his work, and she didn’t want to disappoint.

“You’ll want to hold it like this. Be careful not to touch the exposed bits,” He adjusted the position of her fingers with his own. “There, just like that. Now, move it just an ilm or so until it connects right here and then we’ll…."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“OW!” Rhiki hissed, yanking her hand back and shaking it vigorously to alleviate the burning sensation prickling along her thumb and forefinger. Over the course of the past hour or so of Cid’s instruction she’d become more confident in connecting and arranging the machine’s various innards. A little too confident, perhaps; as she reached to grab the last wire for Cid to connect her fingers had grasped too close to the end of the rubber casing and touched bare metal.

“Really? That hurt you? I’ve seen you take blows from primals without even flinching!” Cid teased.

“I just wasn’t expecting it!” She insisted, defensively.

She could feel his chuckle against her back and he patted her on the shoulder. “Sorry, sorry. I knew I should have gotten you a pair of gloves. Here, all finished,” He twisted the final two wires together with practiced ease. “I’m sure I can entrust you with the task of putting the front panel back on?”

“Fine, fine,” She pawed through the pile of bolts at her side with one hand until she found one that looked to be the right size and grasped along the floor next to her blindly with her other, searching for the discarded panel. Cid plucked it from just out of her reach and handed it to her before disentangling himself from her and climbing to his feet. He stretched, and she heard some of his joints pop. She snickered.

“I hear you laughing at me.” He winced a little.

“What? Oh, I was just thinking about something funny,” She lied, not even trying to sound convincing. She lined the panel up and braced it with one hand. The other hand placed the bolt and reached for the wrench. “Anyways, I did a good job, right? You should take me to dinner, as a treat. Or I could take you. Payment. I’m sure a personal lesson from the head of Garlond Ironworks doesn’t come cheap~”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him wince again, though this time not because of the sore muscles in his back. “I’m sorry, Rhiki. I still need to power this thing up and record the preliminary readings. Then I’ve got to file all the paperwork.”

“Seriously?” She fumbled the wrench, almost dropping it.

“I know, I know. I’d love to take you to dinner. You know I would. But if I don’t get this report finished Jesse will weld me in here permanently.”

She heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping as she continued tightening bolts. “Fine.”

“But,” he continued, “Once I’m done I’ll tell her that I’m taking the next few days off. The Warrior of Light has requested my presence and you can’t just say ‘no’ to the savior of Eorzea, can you? Plus, my girlfriend is in town.”

Rhiki took a moment to consider this. She moved on to the last bolt. “Promise?”

“I promise,” he said with a smile. It was that soft, fond smile that made crinkles appear around his eyes and always made her heart melt. She couldn’t help but give in. Unfair.

“Alright, I believe you.” She gave the wrench a last twist before setting it back on the floor with the rest of the project’s leftovers. She stood, mimicked his stretch from earlier (without the cracking, she noted smugly,) and strode over to him. He was shorter than most Garleans, but she still had to stand on her tiptoes to solicit a kiss from him. He graciously leaned down and acquiesced, before walking her to the door.

“Come and find me when you’re done? If it’s not too late I might be in a good enough mood to whip us up a midnight snack,”

He opened the door for her, “The Warrior of Light really is as benevolent as the stories say.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She smacked him lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand as she passed. Rather than heading down the path that led to the exit, however, she veered right.

“Where are you going?” She heard him ask after her.

“To make problems for Nero!” She called back gleefully with a wave.

The warm, full sound of his laughter followed her down the corridor. “And that, my dear, is one of the many reasons why I love you.”

So, I think the reason this one was so difficult is because it would go... fine, probably? Like with Riol from before, it doesn't seem like it would be a romance for the ages, but it also doesn't seem like it would be a total debacle, either They're both good natured, well-meaning people who would probably have a mostly-healthy, middle of the road relationship. There would be some problems, for sure - they both spend most of their time working, for one. They also both have struggles that the other might have trouble empathizing with. But, if they really put their minds to it, I think they could make it work.

I think the hardest part would be getting them into a relationship to begin with. It seems like there's not really anything to act as a spark. They already get along pretty well, but they don't necessarily have a ton in common. Rhiki thinks magitek seems interesting, but she's not an engineer or a scientist or a scholar, so she's not that into it. Most of the technical stuff goes way over her head. So they probably couldn't bond over, like, hours talking about magitek or the Allagan technology or anything like that. I also don't know that Rhiki is really Cid's type. He seems pretty focused on her work, so I don't know to what extent he's really looking for a relationship, anyway. He's also at least 10 years older than Rhiki, and while that's not a deal-breaker she might not consider him as a romantic option initially. So this ship is more of a "If for some reason they had to get married...." scenario lol.

If it were to develop organically, I think it would probably be during the Weapons storyline. The events in and around Werlyt really shook Rhiki, so she would probably in need of some support. And I'm sure that Cid had some feelings about 1) working with Gaius again after everything and 2) seeing a bunch of Gaius' other adopted kids get fused physically and mentally into magitek weaponry.

What Cid does have going for him is that he's very reliable, which Rhiki would really appreciate about him. He's always there when the WoL needs him and when something that's within his purview needs doing he'll work around the clock to make it happen. He's also friendly and open, and has a pretty consistent temperament, which I think Rhiki would benefit from. And, while their struggles aren't the same, they are, like, second cousins. which could allow them to understand and support each other better. Rhiki has a really hard time living up to her reputation as a hero, and Cid grew up a child prodigy, so I imagine he has some frame of reference for what that pressure is like. Rhiki sometimes worries that her attempts to "save the world" do more harm than good, and Cid clearly grapples with magitek, including things he or his father hard a hand in creating, being misused to hurt or oppress others. So, they both have probably asked themselves, "Am I doing the right thing?" I think these are things that could bring them together.

The other big wrench in the works (no pun intended) though... is that it seems like if Rhiki and Cid got married Nero would live in their spare bedroom which would really put a damper on the romance but would also be extremely funny.

[[Send me a character and I'll tell you how a ship with them and Rhiki would go.]]