#ceruleum

However, being the head of a mining group, he thought meeting in a shady area might look a little more suspicious. Arcuris mentioned to the man his interest in creuleum manufacturing. 

“That...is quite a bit of ceruleum....” The man looked at the tomestone that Arcuris held up for him to view how much was beneath the mines. His eyes widened after being shown the deposit that Arcuris had.

“Daddy! Can I have some money to play some games?” The man brought along one of his children with him because she caught wind her dad was heading to the Golden Saucer. He smiled and gave her some money before she ran off to play games. The man smiled to Arcuris after chuckling at his daughter to play a nearby game within eye’s view. He turned back to the prospective ceruelum owner, “So what would be stopping me and others from just going in and taking this over?” 

Arcuris curved into a smile as he bared some teeth before speaking, “We’ll just say everyone who has crossed me before has wound up in suspicious disappearances and deaths. I suggest not doing that...”

The man raised his eyebrows at the threat that was just given him. Instead of getting upset or anger, the man instead just laughed and smacked his knee, “I like you already. No nonsense, bullshit, just straight to the point man!” He smiled before speaking once more after clearing his throat as he tried to calm the air from his ill attempted humor of a joke before, “So where did you come across all of this information? Surely you just didn’t stumble upon it by chance.”

Arc was getting somewhat aggitated with all of the questioning and shook his head, “About that whole non disclosure and discreet business dealings you are praised for. Let’s just stick to that, shall we?” His grin was filled with impatience as he tapped the tomestone, “Curiousity kills more than just cats, friend.”

He nodded, understanding the entirity of the business deal, “Alright, when would you like to get inspected, get estimates, construction started, and when do you want workers?”

“As soon as possible.”

The man nodded again and smiled. He reached out a hand to shake. Arcuris held out his gloved hand and gave the man a very firm handshake to show him his strength. The man chuckled as the handshake was completed, shaking it off as he somewhat joked around from his hand getting clenched by what felt like a vice, “Nice to do business with you....Mr?...” He trailed off waiting for a name.

“Aban Blue.”

The man chuckled and nodded, “Fancy! Alright, Mr. Blue, we will get everything started  as soon as possible. A pleasure to do business. I think I shall stay a little longer with my daughter.”

FFxiv 30 Day Writing Challenge Prompt #16: Ceruleum Possible triggers: light blood It was far enough past nightfall that most of the small sect of the Coeurl tribe was fast asleep, no motion or sound in the encampment, save for one lone, slender figure creeping about in the dark. She tiptoed through the sand, clutching the leather sack she carried close to herself with both arms, carefully cradling it against her chest with all the care one might hold a newborn baby. Struggling to see through the darkness with those slitted pupils, she crouched down and lifted the flap to one of the many tents, crawling inside as quietly as she could to avoid disturbing her sister who slept soundly on one side. Kitty crawled toward the opposite side atop the pile of blankets and skins that comprised her bed, sitting cross-legged atop them and gently resting her sack next to her. She fumbled around in the dark for a moment before she managed to find a bottle of spirits and a roll of bandages. She splashed some of the alcohol onto her shoulder where she sported a bleeding cut across her skin, fortunately not too deep, though the stinging sensation of the wound being cleansed caused her to release her breath in a sharp, pained hiss. Her sister’s feline ears twitched at the sound, the other Miqo’te stirring and pushing herself up onto her elbows to groggily look in the direction of Kitty’s bed, eyes half opened. “Therrrin? The fuck’re ya doin’?” she mumbled.

“Uh, nothin’, I jus’ sneezed,” Kitty answered in a quick whisper as she began to wrap the bandages around her shoulder. “Go back t’sleep.” “Are ya stealin’ scrrrap metal again?” she muttered. Now that her vision had focused through the darkness, she glanced from the sight of C’therin bandaging herself to the sack that rested next to her upon her bed.

Dark’s head still ached, but there was nothing for that as she reported to Bluefog as the contract requested. The haze perpetually hanging over the landscape wasn’t helping the throbbing in the back of her skull.

The Flame lieutenant gave her the assignment, eyeing her with concern. “Sure you’re up for this, lass?”

She nodded.

He shrugged. “If you say so. Just make sure to clear out that nest of bombs before they get the chance to get close to the ceruleum plant. Mind the peistes and voidsent.”

She nodded again and swung onto Bandit’s saddle. The chocobo kweh’d and they left the camp, heading into the rocky region between that and the plant itself. Blue smog billowed from the distant manufactory, keeping it indistinct and distant. Dark turn Bandit to the east, where the Flames had marked the nest on her map.

Keeping them at range, she decided, would be much better, not only to avoid explosions but to save her aching head. Setting Bandit a safe distance back, she made her way through the rocky canyon to the location the creatures were thought to be. They weren’t terribly hard to track down; a group of the fiery fiends flit about, illuminating the gloomy landscape, stood out and made for easy targets.

Dark drew her bow, and then heard the shuffling and hissing behind her. She bit back a curse as she spun to face the peiste bearing down on her. The lizard skittered across the rocks, undeterred by her bow. She quickly loosed a few arrows, leaping back to avoid the thing’s snapping jaws.

That, of course, got the bombs’ attention.

The wave of heat coming at her back was the first sign things were about to get bad and she wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have packed her heavy armor and greatsword after all. She loosed arrows into the pack of bombs, damaging the first few, but not nearly enough to take the dangerous beings out and free her from the pinch she found herself in. There was space to the left, though it still left her open to swarming…

Dark continued to backpedal instead, through the cluster of bombs now trying to strike and gnaw her as the peiste snapped and flailed after, heedless of the smaller, flittering bombs. Dark’s gear was singed, and she was fairly certain her hair was, too. She kept firing, if only to keep everything back, rather than trying to kill.

One of the bombs finally began to shake in the telltale manner of imminent destabilization. Firing another volley, Dark leapt back once again, heels just nicking the canyon walls. She dashed behind a hardened, ash-covered tree.

The bomb burst, setting off a chain reaction among the others. The peiste screeched, and then fell silent—and then simply fell, with a dull thud into the ash and dust.

She had worked with all sorts of materials, making all sorts of items.

Nothing had ever....quite prepared her for the blue.

After the last incident with the ruptured line, Teii had been more cautious moving forward with her work on the airship, preferring to work with the more solid aspects.

She did, however, eventually need to work with the engines again.

.....it seemed her supplier had a sense of humour. The canister of ceruleum, while light enough, was about twice as tall as she was. She'd barely managed to wrangle it into the workshop!

There was just no getting around it, she mused.

Dusting off her hands, she turned and strode out of the room.

...hopefully, there was somebody else home that she could make understand.

From his workshop, Lucien twisted the kettle contraption this way and that as he checked the settings he'd placed on it before setting down one more time, giving it a tap.

He needed to find Adellene and offer her the current project and see what she thought of the status of it - would she like the way he'd gotten the heat settings to work?  Would it be the joking creation that the elezen would like?

He'd been tinkering with it for so long that th ebit which flitted around his head came up and beeped, a mutter from the man before he waved it off.  He'd made off with a handy number of the little things and over time he'd upgraded all four of them to settle into the best anti-aethertical defenses he could get away with and not raise brows.

[Oh come now...]

His head snapped up, the wrench scattering from his hand as he found himself on his feet, eyes wide.

[Like playing?]

There wasn't anything there, but the sound was everywhere, and it was in front of him, floating above the recoverd and repaired Allagan table he'd secreted to his workshop long, long ago.  The room smelled slowly of burning fuel lines, a seeping scent like the ground was leaking ceruleum and oil, and a wave of heat.

The wrench was thrown atthe wall and it bounced off the pile of tools across his room, and the wrench scattered on the ground afterwards, banging against the table'sleg.

The canisters rattled around in Taliss’s pack, the sounds making her more than a little nervous. The little lalafel Tei Tei had needed some of this stuff for her work on the Airship. Taliss just hoped she didn’t need more of it as she didn’t like tempting fate.

“I’m not getting paid enough to explode,” The Xaela muttered, in truth she didn’t know much about Ceruleum. She knew that it was used to power Airships and some other Magitech,and that it was also explosive in certain cases.

“One little misstep and boom, why does anyone even use this?” The Xaela jumped briefly when she heard the canisters clink together rather loudly, “Nymeia...I hope the Fatespinner is with me today!”

She debated running the rest of the way but Taliss didn’t know if that would cause any issues, maybe it’d be fine, or maybe it’d blow her sky high. And she’d rather be blown sky high metaphorically rather than literally.

“Not to much further, just a few blocks, I can deliver this to Tei Tei...and then find someone to have survival sex with. Just have to play up the danger factor for more sympathy...”