Ever since the second sorceress war Balamb had been on edge. Despite the truces between the neighbouring lands of Galbadia and Balamb everybody was still on edge. Commander Squall was still in charge of Balamb's operations and had decided to replant Balamb Garden as it was no longer needed to be mobile. They also had the guys from Fisherman's Horizon install professional missile defence systems so that should the unthinkable happen and anyone, not specifically Galbadia, targets Balamb again the expensive missile defence systems will divert the missiles safely into space where they'd detonate out of harms way.
Squall had put Rinoa in charge of peace keeping; the theory was that she should have some form of diplomatic advantage over the others being General Caraway's daughter. Also, as Squall liked to put it, she had some form of diplomacy when working for the Forest Owls.
Selphie was obviously in charge of entertainment and was convinced that with a new era deserved a new look and so her and several other students had decided to give Balamb Garden a face-lift. Fortunately Quistis had managed to talk Selphie down from her original ideas of go faster stripes and flames, easily swatting her sound argument that "They're called go faster stripes 'cos they make things go faster!"
"That's not true" was Quistis' response
"Sure it is," Selphie said, "Just look at Ragnarok!"
Quistis paused "What did you do to Ragnarok?"
Selphie stuck out her tongue and just said, "New era means new image" and with that Quistis ran down the hallways of Balamb Garden to find the mighty red spaceship. Except it was no longer red, it was yellow and covered in flowers with two stripes going down either side of the spaceship in pink and orange. Quistis, who had since been re-instated as an instructor almost had an aneurysm and it was all she could do to walk back to her dorm, flick the kettle on and sit down to mark papers with a cup of tea, thinking of the defiled Ragnarok no more.
Both Zell and Irvine had known about the new look that Ragnarok had acquired but both agreed to not say that they knew, lest they be asked or told to redo to paint job. Zell himself was also an instructor now, teaching advanced combat to those about to take their exams. Most of his students were glad to be taught by him, Zell didn't believe in written tests saying that "you can't write down what to do in a fight" whilst everyone knew it was really just because he hated marking. He did do one test once but Headmaster Cid frowned upon his methods so he decided no more tests until he devised a better way to test his students. The test in question involved getting his students to stand single file outside his office door, he would then call them in one at a time and when they least expected it he would jump from behind the door to attack them. In retrospect he could see why Headmaster Cid didn't think it was so brilliant.
Since the end of the war Irvine had been doing what he did best, nothing. Squall had petitioned him to train snipers but his response was "You can't train instinct man. Being a sniper isn't just a job it's a way of life." Squall had heard the entire rant a few times and eventually learnt to blank out after "You can't train instinct." The whole speech that Irvine gave put the Balamb film awards to shame. Eventually Squall won a minor battle with Irvine saying he'd moderate the exam. At first the instructor was infuriated and took it as a suggestion that he wasn't good enough to take an exam. Irvine however put that to rest when in the Training Area he shot a T-Rexasaur through the eyes at almost a mile off without his full attention. The instructor accepted that he would never be as good as Irvine.
Selphie had also become quite attached to Irvine as well as he to her since the realisation that they'd grown up together. The two of them had stuck together almost as much as Squall and Rinoa had, except Selphie and Irvine weren't a couple. Not as such anyway, they were dependent on each other as friends and they even shared an apartment space in the Garden which is usually only reserved for the Instructors, however neither of them had suggested a date. Obviously Irvine had made joking suggestions but they both knew he meant nothing by it, and if Selphie didn't already know that then making coffee for a different SeeD girl every morning soon got the point across.
Being a student from Galbadia people were still somewhat wary of Irvine. The thing is about war once the opposing side's commander was taken down it didn't necessarily mean that the war was over, and there had sprung up several factions throughout the world who were convinced that their way of life was the correct one.
The Galbadian Mission Front (GMF) were convinced that whilst the sorceress was evil Galbadia should still be in charge of the world and should be considered as the capital of the world.
The Trabian Justice Alliance (TJA) that believes that nobody paid the price for Trabia Garden's destruction and they are currently searching Galbadia for a scapegoat, there are some more extreme members that believe that the other Gardens weren't effected as much and therefore should be brought down to the same level as Trabia.
The Sorceress' Rights Committee (SRC) who are under the impression that if Rinoa can be a good sorceress that must mean all sorceresses are good and therefore they are just misunderstood and can become useful members of society, needless to say their followers were few and far between but enough to warrant an anachronism.
Everywhere Irvine went in Balamb he felt like he was being judged, like he would strike at any second without so much as a warning. As can be understood it wasn't doing his social life wonders but when he thought back to his time at Galbadia he couldn't help but smile, It's nothing worse than a seriously pissed off ex-fling's rumours.
Since he'd been in Balamb he'd spent a lot of his time in the quad and today was no different. The hustle and bustle of the garden had now become a soothing sound to him and many a day he'd spent lying on the bench with his cowboy hat over his face listening to the inane conversations of the students.
"Well I said to Jess I really did and she was like no way and I was like yeh seriously n she said what did she say n I was like nothing ya know"
The inane twittering of the pimple spotted teenage girl is how Irvine described it to the others when he'd finally dragged himself over to the cafeteria to save the guys a spot for when they all had lunch together.
"You say that Irvy but I have good money on making small talk with them tomorrow morning." Selphie said and Irvine laughed.
"Selphie babe you know I only have eyes for you," he glanced over to Quistis "and you of course Quisty," he nodded in the general direction of a group of girls "And them."
Zell looked shocked "How do you do it man?" he asked in exclamation "As soon as I get near a girl my hands get all clammy, it's lucky I wear gloves or I'd drop everything."
Rinoa laughed and Squall said "And that's the last thing we'd need you're a big enough klutz anyway."
Zell tuned bright red and turned to Irvine "What am I doing wrong man? You gotta help me."
"You can't train instinct man." Irvine started and Squall interjected
"Being a sniper isn't just a job it's a way of life." Everyone looked up at Squall "Oh I'm sorry Irvine is this a different speech, it just started the same as the last five or six dozen."
Everyone laughed and Selphie playfully punched Irvine in the arm "He's got your number there Irvy, just give Zell a hand."
Irvine sighed "OK Selph, but just for you ok" and he gave her a wink
"While you're on a roll Selph see if you can get him to teach a class on sniping for me."
"Nu-uh Squall," Irvine said "Not even for Selph…or Selph and Quistis…or Selph, Quistis and that group of girls over there."
"I don't want him to teach that badly." Quistis said
"Quisty how could you say that to me?" Irvine said playfully
"Quite easily" she replied returning to her meal
"So getting back to me" Zell said "Any helpful hints or tips?"
"Yeah, man up," Irvine said "Failing that I'll give you a few lessons try and pass down the Kinneas charm as best I can."
"Don't pass down the charm before we actually see it." Quistis said playfully
"Hey," Irvine started "If you want to see the charm I'll be more than happy to show you, my place around eight?"
"No I'm good thanks" She replied "I grew out of puppet shows when I passed my 10th birthday."
With that witty retort Irvine paused at a loss for words and turned to Zell "So when are you free next?"
"Not this period, not the period after but the period after that." He said racking his brains for his schedule.
"So in about three hours then" Squall said in a mocking tone to Zell
"Fair enough you'll find me on the bench in the quad with my hat on my face."
"How can you sleep so much Irvine?" Rinoa asked
"Up all night love," he winked at her "Up all night." Quistis, Selphie and Rinoa all sighed and Irvine said "But until then I bid you guys adieu I have things to do and places to see, try not to miss me too much." He kissed Selphie on the head as he passed her "We still on for a movie marathon tonight?"
"Sure," she replied "But remember you promised to help me with the festival sometime today."
"OK once I've spent some time with Zell but right now duty calls." He said and waved goodbye as he walked toward the pack of women he was previously talking about. The gang watched as he singled one out and apparently introduced himself, for seemingly no apparent reason the girl slapped him across the face and Irvine retreated to the table "OK Selph lets go do festival stuff," she smiled "Lesson one Zell, that will happen…get over it."
"What did you say to her?" He asked
"I merely introduced myself and asked her what her name was."
"And she hit you?" Zell said astounded and Irvine nodded holding his face.
"You know why don't you," Selphie said to Irvine who remained puzzled "I must have seen her in our apartment only three weeks ago, her name's Vanessa."
"I thought she looked familiar," he remarked "OK Zell that was a bad example but I'll see you in three hours. Later guys" The guys waved him a pleasant goodbye and Irvine walked with Selphie telling him all her plans.