Zanarkand Marina
Jecht's houseboat was the least maintained of all the vessels in the Zanarkand Marina.
It was overdue for a reseal, the underside crusted in Sinscale spines, the sails were ripped, the lines frayed and all of the internal machina was rusty. The inside fared no better. The tidal wave from the Sin attack 3 years ago and a malfunctioning pump made for damp carpets and mold. With no power, the cooling unit smelled like something died in it and judging from the old fishing equipment on deck, something just might have. Arachnid webs blanketed the cluttered shelf of Jecht and Tidus' old Blitzball trophies, the sailing books were warped, the rounded sectional in the center of the cabin had a family of geckos in it...
...and Raine wanted to live there.
Auron couldn't forbid it. No one could. The boat was hers by default when her mother died and so was the dock space it inhabited.
Raine had asked him to meet her there. Redundant, of course. He would already be following her. But it was her tactful way of letting him know she expected his company. Auron knew which route of sun-bleached boardwalks to take from when Tidus lived there, but as he approached the boat ramp, he heard the music inside, something trendy that rattled the windows. Knocking would be futile, so he let himself in.
The screen on the door was torn, the hinges loose, and it wouldn't close all the way because the door frame had warped. Inside, it didn't take long for the fishy smell to hit him. It made his eye water as he stood on the landing, looking down into the circular parlor. The stucco walls were marked with a grimy flood line about 2-3 feet from the layer of dried mud that was the floor.
Raine had pushed all the furniture to one side of the room and was using a broom as a dance partner, singing the words of the song to it, twirling around a pile of debris she had apparently been cleaning up. Auron leaned against the unsteady banister and watched her performance with quiet amusement.
Eventually, she saw him and shrieked. The broom dropped to the floor with a hasty thwack and she immediately ran to the portable radio to turn it down.
"How long have you been standing there?" she asked breathlessly. She was wearing pink shorts and a pink tank top under one of her brother's old, oversized Abes jerseys, typical attire for outside chores back at her great-aunt's house in C-South.
Auron started down the steps into the remains of the living area and leaned his katana against the wall. "Not long."
"Well you're just in time. I'm about to break for lunch."
Glancing around, Auron wondered how much work she'd done to earn a break, and noticed a red plaid blanket had been spread out picnic-style on the floor. In the kitchen niche at the back of the room, Raine hoisted down a basket from the filthy island counter.
Auron affected remorse as best as he could. "I'm not hungry."
"Go figure. But I made these sandwiches myself, so just pretend, okay?" She kneeled down on the blanket and began unloading foil wrapped food items from the basket, arranging them into two place settings. "And sit. You make me nervous standing that way."
Sighing inwardly, Auron settled cross-legged at one corner of the blanket as Raine thrust a sandwich into his gauntlet. He noticed her knees were dirty and there were mud stains on her shorts and her ponytail was messy with sweaty fly-ways. She appeared to have been working hard on something, but it wasn't apparent in the present room.
Auron used his tucked hand sparingly to remove the foil from his sandwich and bit into it without checking to see what kind it was. Raine sat on her hip with her legs to the side and draped a cloth napkin on one thigh as she ate with small bites. She stole glances at him while he chewed. There had been only one other instance he'd eaten in front of her and he had to endure the skeptic stares of her great aunt and uncle, who had evidently been expecting someone different when Raine announced she was bringing someone home for dinner.
"What is this?" he asked around his food.
"Tuna fish."
Auron stopped chewing a beat. "I mean, what are we doing on your father's houseboat?"
"To celebrate. I'm moving in."
He took another large bite, taking no enjoyment of the flavors, just for the sake of appeasing her. "By yourself?"
"Not with Jory, if that's what you mean."
"That's not what I said."
"That's what you meant," she sang. "Besides, Jory took one look at the place and turned his nose up at it."
"Maybe it was the smell."
She straightened her neck and frowned apologetically. "Does it still smell? I opened all the windows that weren't painted shut. I must be used to it. I've been here since dawn. But you knew that."
He did. What he didn't know was what she'd been doing since then. Everything was still in shambles.
"I can't live with my aunt and uncle anymore. They tell me I can stay until I'm done with college, but I wasn't expecting to stay with them after high school. Jory promised he'd—" Her eyes met his for a split second before she slid them back down to her sandwich, preoccupied as she picked off an invisible speck from her next bite. She didn't finish her thought and nodded with new determination. "It's best this way."
"It's not livable."
"It will be when I fix it up."
"Hmph."
Something flittered in the corner of Auron's eye and as he turned to look, a gecko skittered onto the blanket, a brown ridge of bone tracing down its spine. Its long green tail twitched as it looked at Raine with a narrow, cocked head, its beady yellow eyes staring greedily and curiously at her sandwich. Raine screamed, threw her sandwich at it and scrabbled backwards like a crab. With a lipless mouth, the gecko bit into the soft bread and gulped down a large bite.
Auron shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and patted the crumbs off his hands and lap as he got to his feet. Balanced on one leg, he centered a boot over the lizard.
"Stop!"
Far out of the gecko's reach, Raine was kneeled on the back of the crescent shaped couch with her hand stretched forward to halt him. She looked at Auron, horrified.
"It's a pest," Auron reasoned.
"It's a baby."
The lizard gummed another piece off the sandwich, unaware how close to death it was.
"What would you like done?"
"Just—put it outside."
Auron rolled his eye. He wrapped his gauntlet around the end of its tail and picked it up, a section of tuna fish and bread still wedged in its mouth as it tried to swallow while swaying upside down. On his way to the door, Auron held the critter away from his body, battling with its flexing tail as it thrashed to escape. At the threshold, he started to swing the critter way back—
"Gently!" Raine called.
—and instead dangled it over the deck until its claws frantically scrabbled at the wood surface. Auron released it and it scampered across the boards, down the ramp, its slender tail whipping behind as it made a sharp turn straight into the bay.
