A good black mage knows, sometimes the only way to fight fire is with fire.
So Rydia holds her nose (metaphorically speaking, anyway; doing it literally would give the game away) and turns the tables on Edge. Flirting outrageously with him, trying to catch him in the bath, all the tricks he's tried on her.
It doesn't take much to turn him from pursuer to pursued, and paradoxically she finds she likes him in full flight. Likes the vulnerability, even insecurity, he's showing now, much better than the towering ego he'd put on like peacock feathers to impress her.
Rosa is in on it, and the other two men find it hilarious--- Kain in particular is not shy about giving Edge the rough side of his tongue. (Well. Kain and his issues about unrequited affections and insecurity are legion, and Rydia counts herself well out of that. Rosa's a white mage, with a grasp of mind magic; let her handle him.)
Then one afternoon, she leans over exaggeratedly toward Edge, puckering up, and he recoils; she sees real fear in his eyes, and suddenly the game isn't fun any more.
She stops and pulls back. He blinks, startled. "Er---"
"If you really don't want me to," she shrugs, "then I won't." She looks at him directly, in the way that she knows unsettles all of them, a relic of her time in the Feymarch in some way she can't understand. "I just wanted you to know what it felt like, being chased."
"Um. Yeah. Consider the lesson learned." Edge rubs the back of his neck ruefully.
Rydia looks at him thoughtfully. "You know, you're a lot nicer when you're vulnerable--- not strutting around and preening. It's something you might try with the next one."
"The next one--- oh." He blushes, looks away. "I... don't think there's going to be a next one," he says, more to himself than to her.
She looks at him in surprise. "You mean you were serious?"
"Well, yeah." A beat. "I've never met a girl like you."
All right, so it could be another gambit. But it's a good one--- it shows he listened: showed himself vulnerable to her. That, at least, ought to be rewarded.
This time, when she leans in, he doesn't pull away.
"Backfire": FFIV [any]: Rydia/Edge, PG-13 for consent-related issues
So Rydia holds her nose (metaphorically speaking, anyway; doing it literally would give the game away) and turns the tables on Edge. Flirting outrageously with him, trying to catch him in the bath, all the tricks he's tried on her.
It doesn't take much to turn him from pursuer to pursued, and paradoxically she finds she likes him in full flight. Likes the vulnerability, even insecurity, he's showing now, much better than the towering ego he'd put on like peacock feathers to impress her.
Rosa is in on it, and the other two men find it hilarious--- Kain in particular is not shy about giving Edge the rough side of his tongue. (Well. Kain and his issues about unrequited affections and insecurity are legion, and Rydia counts herself well out of that. Rosa's a white mage, with a grasp of mind magic; let her handle him.)
Then one afternoon, she leans over exaggeratedly toward Edge, puckering up, and he recoils; she sees real fear in his eyes, and suddenly the game isn't fun any more.
She stops and pulls back. He blinks, startled. "Er---"
"If you really don't want me to," she shrugs, "then I won't." She looks at him directly, in the way that she knows unsettles all of them, a relic of her time in the Feymarch in some way she can't understand. "I just wanted you to know what it felt like, being chased."
"Um. Yeah. Consider the lesson learned." Edge rubs the back of his neck ruefully.
Rydia looks at him thoughtfully. "You know, you're a lot nicer when you're vulnerable--- not strutting around and preening. It's something you might try with the next one."
"The next one--- oh." He blushes, looks away. "I... don't think there's going to be a next one," he says, more to himself than to her.
She looks at him in surprise. "You mean you were serious?"
"Well, yeah." A beat. "I've never met a girl like you."
All right, so it could be another gambit. But it's a good one--- it shows he listened: showed himself vulnerable to her. That, at least, ought to be rewarded.
This time, when she leans in, he doesn't pull away.