Author: I do not own Squaresoft. Squaresoft owns me, and I say so willingly. I owe them much of my life in one way or another. As always, the characters belong to their amazing creators, and to their avatars.
The idea of "commuting between worldmaps" as if it were merely longdistance comes from an FF7/8 spoof titled Explained.
One other note. Thoughts are parentheses inside quotations. "(Like so.)"
Love! And! Peace! (and smithereens)
Ch 1, Joining the 'party'
"The instructions say 'by means of a sniper'," Squall was explaining to their temporary superior officer, while the rest of his team stood in a line behind him at the entrance of Galbadia Garden. "We have no one with that skill."
"One has already been arranged for you," the commander answered, and gestured towards the campus lawn.
Reclining in a tree, the teenager clad in blazing red jacket reachng his feet, hard black boots, and black gloves, gazed upwards at a yellow butterfly. His youthful face was topped off with short blonde hair all standing upright, and glasses of zig zag earpieces and tinted round hippie lenses.
The butterfly's ballet landed it in a spider's web tucked across a Y of branches, so he stretched up and gently released it, all the while not disturbing the ornate web. The freed creature continued on its way as the young gunslinger sighed dramatically to himself.
"Yoo-hoo!" a Selphie Tilmitt called, breaking the zen moment.
The incredibly agile athlete startle to discover five people with their eyes on him, three of them pretty girls. And promptly fell out of the tree.
Zell took a shine to the stylish guy on sight and was the first to step right up and make acquaintances. But the newest member blew on by him and went straight for the ladies; he shook hands by pumping their arms all the way up and down like he was trying to teach them to fly.
"Extremely pleased to meet you, call me (it's a new world where nobody's heard the horrible nasty rumors about me so I can finally go somewhere and use my real name without fear, hooray!) Vash!"
With most names in the world sounding equally exotic, his blended right in.
Before the group could reply, a local smooth-featured SeeD in suave beige cowboy attire interrupetd the introductions. "I don't know how you did it, partner. Walking in off the worldview begging for a chance, then catapulting straight from the placement test to the SeeD exam, and getting your honors all in one day. That's a mighty lot to bite off all at once, so I tip my cap to you." And so he did, trying for all he was worth to look gracious instead of very, very wounded at being shown up so radically -- and at his own weaponry field.
Quistis was shocked at the prodigy too. "One day?"
Vash was trying to shake off his sudden fame. "Come on now, it wasn't that incredible. I simply did my best, and came through it okay. That was all."
"Until now I held the record for promotions from recruit to Seed, two years. One day makes me feel... un-superior. Slipping towards average. Mediocre," she mourned to herself.
A member of her team overheard and idled over. "Don't you also hold the record for making it to Instructor? As long as this guy Vash doesn't get to teach, you're all set," Zell provided cheerily.
"Thank you, Mr. Know It All," Quistis retorted, annoyed she'd let some of her rue leak into her tone. Worse, someone *noticed* she'd lost her cool. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go work out some more?"
"All-RIGHT!" The hyper martial artist gleefully backed off a few paces and *whiffed* a few punches through the air.
The instructor rolled her eyes. "(If I threw a stick, would he chase it?)"
Meanwhile, Squall was just sickened by the varying degrees of envy among the ex-instructor and the gunslinging Irvine. "(Who cares how fast somebody else advanced. You both made it so you have nothing to complain about.)" But since he hadn't opened his mouth, no one heard him.
Except for Quistis, who responded with a "Thank you. That was very insightful, sensitive and kind."
The leader frowned. "(I wasn't trying to be any of that. And how did you hear me, since I didn't actually speak to any of you?" It almost, but not quite, managaed to avoid sounding derogatory.
"By now I figured out how to translate 'silence'. Handy, wouldn't you agree?"
"..."
"Yes, we should get moving already," Rinoa spoke up in agreement to the unspoken.
"(Oh great, one more of you is all I needed.)"
"One more of us what?" Zell chimed.
A silent moan of frustration made the three near-telepaths flinch or smirk, as the case may be.
"We're moving out?" The newcomer Vash had missed much of what had transpired but picked up on the proposal. "It makes sense to divide our group. Might I suggest--" and then he shuffled the teens around by pushing at their backs, with them frozen in pose and sliding along on their heels simply like furniture being moved.
Squall and Zell stood next to Rinoa, and on the other end Vash had placed himself in between Selphie and Quistis, a bright half-rainbow of pink, red, yellow.
This trio seemed pleased, and so did Rinoa. The tattooed boy nudged his team leader. "Trade me for Quistis! A trip with those two looks like fun!" he whispered in Squall's ear, not overheard by the rest of the fighters but loud enough to mar an eardrum.
Squall eyed them all. If Zell joined Selphie and Vash, that would put the unknown graduate and *both* walking sugar rush victims off by themselves. More importantly, he'd be left with only the half-baked resistence member and the former instructor, who was as far as he knew the only teammate inclined towards stability and sanity here. "(Usually)," he amended, recalling grad night. Both females tended to get too up-close-and-personal for his comfort - "(didn't everyone?)" - but --it dawned on him-- their kind of drama, they'd tend to save until he was alone, so together they'd sort of cancel each other out. It was tempting. Very tempting. Squall licked his lips as he thought it over. No, he couldn't. The two caffeine junkies needed a babysitter, and someone experienced should break in the maverick as well. "No. It's fine the way it is."
The girls remained happy, although Quistis frowned at the idea of their head of authority seeming to bow in submission to the upstart. Holding a torch for a boy who chose to tell her to talk to a wall was one thing, but believing in someone who wasn't strong enough to hold his position was another. Then Squall remembered to designate her the head of their group, much to her relief, both that she retained a shred of command and that her faith in the boy's mettle hadn't been in vain.
At the party designations, Zell blurted out "You suck!" and then settled in for the journey, while Squall made a point of showing how little the blonde's opinion meant to him.
Da author: Managed to keep this chapter short. Up next, a 'Field' Trip. Luff you all!
The idea of "commuting between worldmaps" as if it were merely longdistance comes from an FF7/8 spoof titled Explained.
One other note. Thoughts are parentheses inside quotations. "(Like so.)"
Ch 1, Joining the 'party'
"The instructions say 'by means of a sniper'," Squall was explaining to their temporary superior officer, while the rest of his team stood in a line behind him at the entrance of Galbadia Garden. "We have no one with that skill."
"One has already been arranged for you," the commander answered, and gestured towards the campus lawn.
Reclining in a tree, the teenager clad in blazing red jacket reachng his feet, hard black boots, and black gloves, gazed upwards at a yellow butterfly. His youthful face was topped off with short blonde hair all standing upright, and glasses of zig zag earpieces and tinted round hippie lenses.
The butterfly's ballet landed it in a spider's web tucked across a Y of branches, so he stretched up and gently released it, all the while not disturbing the ornate web. The freed creature continued on its way as the young gunslinger sighed dramatically to himself.
"Yoo-hoo!" a Selphie Tilmitt called, breaking the zen moment.
The incredibly agile athlete startle to discover five people with their eyes on him, three of them pretty girls. And promptly fell out of the tree.
Zell took a shine to the stylish guy on sight and was the first to step right up and make acquaintances. But the newest member blew on by him and went straight for the ladies; he shook hands by pumping their arms all the way up and down like he was trying to teach them to fly.
"Extremely pleased to meet you, call me (it's a new world where nobody's heard the horrible nasty rumors about me so I can finally go somewhere and use my real name without fear, hooray!) Vash!"
With most names in the world sounding equally exotic, his blended right in.
Before the group could reply, a local smooth-featured SeeD in suave beige cowboy attire interrupetd the introductions. "I don't know how you did it, partner. Walking in off the worldview begging for a chance, then catapulting straight from the placement test to the SeeD exam, and getting your honors all in one day. That's a mighty lot to bite off all at once, so I tip my cap to you." And so he did, trying for all he was worth to look gracious instead of very, very wounded at being shown up so radically -- and at his own weaponry field.
Quistis was shocked at the prodigy too. "One day?"
Vash was trying to shake off his sudden fame. "Come on now, it wasn't that incredible. I simply did my best, and came through it okay. That was all."
"Until now I held the record for promotions from recruit to Seed, two years. One day makes me feel... un-superior. Slipping towards average. Mediocre," she mourned to herself.
A member of her team overheard and idled over. "Don't you also hold the record for making it to Instructor? As long as this guy Vash doesn't get to teach, you're all set," Zell provided cheerily.
"Thank you, Mr. Know It All," Quistis retorted, annoyed she'd let some of her rue leak into her tone. Worse, someone *noticed* she'd lost her cool. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go work out some more?"
"All-RIGHT!" The hyper martial artist gleefully backed off a few paces and *whiffed* a few punches through the air.
The instructor rolled her eyes. "(If I threw a stick, would he chase it?)"
Meanwhile, Squall was just sickened by the varying degrees of envy among the ex-instructor and the gunslinging Irvine. "(Who cares how fast somebody else advanced. You both made it so you have nothing to complain about.)" But since he hadn't opened his mouth, no one heard him.
Except for Quistis, who responded with a "Thank you. That was very insightful, sensitive and kind."
The leader frowned. "(I wasn't trying to be any of that. And how did you hear me, since I didn't actually speak to any of you?" It almost, but not quite, managaed to avoid sounding derogatory.
"By now I figured out how to translate 'silence'. Handy, wouldn't you agree?"
"..."
"Yes, we should get moving already," Rinoa spoke up in agreement to the unspoken.
"(Oh great, one more of you is all I needed.)"
"One more of us what?" Zell chimed.
A silent moan of frustration made the three near-telepaths flinch or smirk, as the case may be.
"We're moving out?" The newcomer Vash had missed much of what had transpired but picked up on the proposal. "It makes sense to divide our group. Might I suggest--" and then he shuffled the teens around by pushing at their backs, with them frozen in pose and sliding along on their heels simply like furniture being moved.
Squall and Zell stood next to Rinoa, and on the other end Vash had placed himself in between Selphie and Quistis, a bright half-rainbow of pink, red, yellow.
This trio seemed pleased, and so did Rinoa. The tattooed boy nudged his team leader. "Trade me for Quistis! A trip with those two looks like fun!" he whispered in Squall's ear, not overheard by the rest of the fighters but loud enough to mar an eardrum.
Squall eyed them all. If Zell joined Selphie and Vash, that would put the unknown graduate and *both* walking sugar rush victims off by themselves. More importantly, he'd be left with only the half-baked resistence member and the former instructor, who was as far as he knew the only teammate inclined towards stability and sanity here. "(Usually)," he amended, recalling grad night. Both females tended to get too up-close-and-personal for his comfort - "(didn't everyone?)" - but --it dawned on him-- their kind of drama, they'd tend to save until he was alone, so together they'd sort of cancel each other out. It was tempting. Very tempting. Squall licked his lips as he thought it over. No, he couldn't. The two caffeine junkies needed a babysitter, and someone experienced should break in the maverick as well. "No. It's fine the way it is."
The girls remained happy, although Quistis frowned at the idea of their head of authority seeming to bow in submission to the upstart. Holding a torch for a boy who chose to tell her to talk to a wall was one thing, but believing in someone who wasn't strong enough to hold his position was another. Then Squall remembered to designate her the head of their group, much to her relief, both that she retained a shred of command and that her faith in the boy's mettle hadn't been in vain.
At the party designations, Zell blurted out "You suck!" and then settled in for the journey, while Squall made a point of showing how little the blonde's opinion meant to him.
Da author: Managed to keep this chapter short. Up next, a 'Field' Trip. Luff you all!