Chapter Three: Learning Curve
July 7th – After Work
The day had trudged on slowly, which was by no means a surprise. It always seemed to crawl along at a Blobra's pace when she was looking forward to seeing Squall. However, she felt more apprehensive about tonight for two reasons. One, she simply still had no idea what he had planned. Her imagination was vast, and sadly, Squall's probably wasn't when it came to the physical aspects of training. She was most likely going to be treated like a new recruit to Garden. Second, she was curious how he was handling his first day of 'in-room' suspension. Though again, Squall probably didn't care where he was, paperwork was boring in any location.
Now she found herself waiting (semi) patiently at the front gates, becoming more anxious with every second that passed. Again, being clueless on the subject of Squall had her overanalyzing everything. That was nothing new; she rarely understood the intricate workings of his mind. Though she figured that was a good thing the majority of the time. It at least made every encounter with him slightly more mysterious, if not extremely aggravating.
This day was pretty much unprecedented for them, as it was the first time they were dealing with their bond exclusively. She knew that the 'emotional connection' had bothered him during the dance, and the time in Trabia with Seifer, but he had let it remain in the background. She knew, they both knew, they had to face this situation head-on. It had been placed directly in the foreground of their relationship. It was because of their bond that he was suspended, at least she would always believe. He would argue otherwise, but both were stubborn beyond belief, and would never back from their stance.
Continuing to stare at the entrance of Garden, she wondered how long it would take him to walk out of the building. Every time a person exited through the main doors, she was hopeful. Suddenly, an extremely loud and very unexpected car horn blared from behind startling her from the trance. In reflex she tossed her duffle bag a good few meters in the air. As she gathered her wits, and duffle bag, the horn sounded for a second time. She was just about ready to turn and curse that stupid idiotic driver out when she suddenly recognized the car.
Rinoa opened the door glaring at the man behind the wheel, "You know that was sooo unnecessary."
"I know," Squall replied rather brazenly. "Think of it this way, that was your first lesson. Always be ready for anything."
She wanted to counter with some witty comeback, but she knew whatever retort she would manage, he'd dismiss with some SeeD adage. It was just easier to let the matter rest for now... She would plan her revenge later. Two could play at the 'be ready for anything' game.
Deciding just to play it cool for now, she got in merely asking, "So what's the plan?"
"You'll see."
"You know, now is not the time to be all mysterious." She was getting irritated by his aloof behavior, plus still not thrilled about the near heart attack he had given her. "I really would like to know where we're going at least."
"I'll tell you when we get there."
"You make me want to scream."
"Good," he answered with a chuckle in his voice.
Something told her he enjoyed this. Theirs truly was a unique relationship that few could understand. Truthfully neither of them could fully comprehend it themselves.
It was a relatively short drive, less than ten minutes which Rinoa was grateful for. It was not like the continent of Balamb offered that much variety in destinations. When they neared the coast he slowed his car down, finding a makeshift dirt road to park.
"The beach?" Rinoa questioned rather hopefully. Maybe this was all just an elaborate ruse to get her to watch the sunset with him. He could be romantic.
"You do have your running shoes on, right?"
…Then again, sometimes he was clueless on romance.
"Yes," she groaned.
He made no further attempt at conversation getting out of the vehicle. He had opted to wear a gray t-shirt with black shorts. On the shorts, there was a SeeD emblem embroidered on the leg. She then also noticed the small SeeD insignia on the sleeve of his shirt. It appeared what clothes of his weren't leather, were more than likely Garden-issue.
"Dear God Squall, please tell me that SeeD doesn't make personalized boxers too."
"What did you say?" he questioned, half wondering if heard her right, half hoping he was very wrong. As suspected she didn't repeat the question, which was his hope.
"Never mind. So um, what are we doing here?" She reached back into the car and grabbed her duffle bag.
"Ever find it difficult to walk in the sand?" he asked tossing his bag on the trunk.
"Um, tried to avoid it directly. It was always way too hot. I would usually wear sandals until we found a place to put our towels down. That stuff can really burn your feet on a sunny day. It's murder!"
He stared at her blankly, "I meant did you find it difficult to walk in deep sand – resistance wise?"
"Oh, that way… I guess it was difficult, again wearing sandals doesn't help."
Squall was obviously showing his hand to her; what little experience he had at the beach didn't involve hanging with friends or tanning in the sun. He rubbed his neck thinking about how different they were and their upbringing had been.
"Follow me." She tried to ignore the almost military edge to his request.
He began a series of warm-ups that she seemed to easily follow. They continued stretching while he began to explain his plan, "One of the best ways for strength training is by running on sand. It forces you to go slow, maintain your balance, and keeps your heart rate up. Basically, gives you most of the benefits equated with altitude training."
She moaned a reply. Honestly her mind was pretty much stuck on the 'run' aspect. She had managed to hear very little after that. She just knew 'run' and 'sand' should be two words never in the same sentence.
"We're going to take it slow today. Do you see where that part of the land jets out there?" He pointed down the coast.
She squinted in horror following his line of sight. "Easy, that is taking it easy?"
"In a few months, I'll have you running to town and back."
"We are so over," she mumbled in jest. He knew she was kidding and smiled rather victoriously.
"Can't we just work on the magic stuff, please?" She knew this was probably coming across as whining compared to the cadets he was used to. But therein lied the problem, he was doing what he was used to – not her.
"Rin, honestly the two are related. You need stamina to cast the spells. It's going to take a hell of a lot out of you. I want you to be ready for anything."
His eyes silently asked her to agree. She could tell that this was as much for his benefit as it was for hers. Still, really couldn't it be anything but running…in sand!
"Ready?" he barked before running off. He really was like that Cactuar on skates she had compared him to in the past.
She wasn't positive how long the torture had lasted, but it felt like the longest time in recorded history. When she made it to the land to turn around, she was positive someone had moved his car even further away. This had to be some twisted optical illusion of insanity.
The sorceress finally managed to stagger back to the starting point. The knight, on the other hand, apparently had been there forever. In that time she figured he had read a novel and lounged on the beach with a piña colada in hand. Rinoa wanted to tell him where he could stick that little wooden umbrella, but that was just the adrenaline talking. She tried to collapse as she neared him, but he of course, wouldn't let her do that.
Squall reached a hand out reprimanding, "Don't… keep walking for slowdown. Heart rate, remember."
Heart rate, yeah whatever - she'd be lucky to have a heart rate at all after this.
"You made it in less than fifteen minutes, good job."
Fifteen minutes? That was all? He had to have read that stopwatch wrong, it surely had to be at least an hour…or four. She finally managed to stumble back to the dirt road where his car was parked. All she could do was wonder why in the heck she had agreed to this absurdity in the first place. Didn't he remember her stamina in battles? Her endurance was perfectly fine, this was just masochistic. It took another ten minutes or so before she could stop seeing multiples of everything. Apparently no, Balamb didn't mysteriously gain another sun…it was just the double vision. She also saw two Squalls momentarily, luckily for one of them, she didn't know which one to strangle.
As her vision cleared, he handed her a bottle of water. Of course she was quick to realize it was just a peace offering before entering the next circle of hell.
"Now we're going to work on some magical exercises."
"Can't we go work on that in Garden? You know, where it is actually air conditioned."
"Rin, we can't exactly have you practicing magic around a lot of people. We need somewhere remote - that is why I picked here." He lightheartedly added, "Also figured if you set something on fire, we're close to a major water source."
"Ha ha," she shot back crossing her arms disgustedly. "So what exactly are we going to do O' Knight-like one?"
"Actually since you managed to Silence me so well in Trabia, I think working with support and status magic is a logical choice. If we can work on your confidence in that, it will help overall."
That was true. Squall took her greatest weakness in battle, fighting alone, and was going to try to turn it into a strength. If she was confident in her abilities to protect and aid her allies, her confidence overall would increase. He also was aware that she was hesitant about using dark magic ever since the spider incident. Until she could control one category, it was doubtful she could control something more powerful. Rinoa's nature was to help. That was where they were going to start.
For the next hour he wanted her to work on support spells. His plan had been for her to start with the most basic spells including Protect, Reflect, and Shell. Instead of being the test dummy himself, he had gathered some 'unwitting subjects' before leaving Garden. His theory of teaching revolved around her casting spells protecting inanimate objects, rather than living creatures. Once they had mastered this step, they would move forward.
They needed to know exactly what her capabilities were and where her weakness lay. The fact was that neither knew what degree of magic she was capable. With a Guardian Force junctioned, there is no doubt in the casters abilities. With her, all magic was stored internally; she had to draw on that power to produce the spells. This is why the situation, as with all sorceresses, was a wild card to most outsiders.
Squall went back to his car and opened the trunk. He reached in immediately producing a bag full of test dummies. He made no effort to explain himself and walked back to her. As he neared, he pulled out a single pinecone and set the rest of the 'test subjects' onto the ground.
"What is that?" Rinoa asked curiously.
"It's a pinecone."
"Well, thankyouverymuch, I can see that. I mean why are you holding it?"
"We're going to use it for practice. There's a lot around Garden and they're very delicate by nature. You're going to use them to cast basic support spells."
"Great, to protect us from all those vicious pinecone attacks you read about in the paper?"
He merely cocked an eyebrow at her sarcasm. There was part of him that wished she would take this a little more seriously, but then again, he knew this was difficult for her. Maybe it was just easier for her to voice her opinion jokingly rather than to think about other possibilities.
With his leadership, and nearly unimaginable patience, they trudged through the next hour relatively unscathed. However the pinecones didn't fare as well, as most ended up disemboweled and broken into countless pieces.
Squall was right; the mental exhaustion was almost as grueling as the physical. He was satisfied with what they accomplished and knew she was tiring. Plus, they were running out of victims.
"I think you've murdered enough pinecones. What do you say we call it a day on this exercise?"
"So do I get to try spells on you next time?"
"Once you learn that support spells aren't meant to turn the recipient into ash."
She squinted her eyes, giving him that 'don't mess with me look.' He smirked as they headed back to his car. He could tell that she was trying to act as if she didn't want to collapse, though her body language betrayed her. He knew each step became increasingly difficult. He admired her determination and the way she handled herself. Many SeeDs he knew wouldn't weather as well without complaining. Okay she had complained some, but still he was impressed nonetheless.
"Are we heading back to Garden now?" she questioned groggily.
"We can, if you want."
Rinoa thought about his statement. It wasn't definite, in fact, quite the opposite. His tone of voice never changed, it was the words he had picked. Rinoa knew to take the opening, if she was reading the situation correctly.
"I don't know," the sorceress sighed. "It's nice to be away for a little bit. I always loved the beach."
"Back to those years tanning with your friends?" he asked with a hint of playfulness.
"Nah, nothing like that."
She smiled and headed towards the shoreline, finding a spot on the beach. Rinoa made a very unladylike grunt when she finally made it to the ground.
"Dear Diablo, I didn't think I could possibly be this sore this quickly. I think you're going to have your work cut out for you. I mean… to get me to stand up after this."
"I'll manage," he stated taking a seat directly beside her.
The next few minutes were relatively silent, only the ambient sounds of nature. She leaned back on her hands, extending her legs forward. The warmth of the sun was rather powerful given that it was well into evening. It was summer and the sun's intensity could be felt even at this hour.
"Thanks," Rinoa said without elaboration.
He had no idea what she was thanking him for…possibly murdering innocent pinecones or making her stagger through sand? In his line of work he wasn't used to being thanked and that played a major role in his confusion. He was just doing his job in his opinion.
"You're welcome," he answered politely.
She found herself chuckling for no other reason than mental and physical exhaustion. Plus he was just so damn irresistible at times like this. Of course, that was something else she would never tell him.
"You have no idea what I'm thanking you for, do you?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Squall," she smiled shaking her head. "I'm thanking you for making me do this, even though I really try to be an obstinate ass some times."
"Oh that," he replied wryly. "Yeah, you can be an obstinate ass."
"Hey!" she groaned. "You should never agree with your girlfriend on something like that. You're supposed to, you know, tell me that I'm not and make me feel better."
"As I've said in the past, no wonder I never did this relationship thing before."
"I give up," she sighed. Their exchange was playful; even he could pick up on that. Randomly changing the subject she also added, "Also, thanks for agreeing to going to Dollet this weekend. Selphie was so thrilled when I told her, could barely pry her arms off me. She told me that Irvine would get with you about the reservations for the room… rooms, er yeah, whatever."
The slip was nothing on her part, but somehow changing a singular to a plural held many implications to him. There was a huge difference between a room and two rooms.
There was suddenly an awkwardness that Squall was not expecting. He hadn't thought about the small, yet pertinent, details of the trip. Heck, he hadn't even thought about what the four of them would do for two days together. That was scary enough. He needed to change the subject right now; he would deal with this new mental crisis later.
"Think of something," he said randomly changing the subject.
"Um, what?"
He exhaled hoping that the topic switch would work. Plus, it was a mental exercise they could try. More importantly, it would steer the conversation away from the warning sign barricading the highway of his life.
"I checked with Matron on some exercises for us to try…"
He never looked at her as his words faded. That tended to be a bad habit of his, not looking directly at her when he felt uncomfortable, which was often. He would break it eventually, but somehow this didn't seem like the right time to try to start. So he stayed focused on the ocean's horizon.
"Rin, I want you to close your eyes and think of something…any object will do."
"All right…?" she questioned but tried to oblige his request. Shutting her eyes, Rinoa tried to think of 'something', but honestly, that instruction was way too vague.
"Um Squall…. I don't exactly-"
"Yeah, I know," he interrupted realizing that his lack of communication skills were once again rearing their ugly head. "Let me try to explain a little better. In your mind, I want you to think of any object. It can be something common. Then concentrate on what it looks like, the color, the feel - basically try to incorporate all of your senses."
Well, that explanation was a little more lucid. She now understood what he was going for, even if it was in some roundabout way of getting there. Rinoa's eyes remained closed and she began to let her mind wander. For some odd reason, the first thing that she pictured was one of those stupid staplers from this afternoon. Why again did the Commander of SeeD need two staplers?
"Okay," she responded holding back a laugh, "I have something."
"Really focus," he instructed.
Rinoa deeply concentrated on one of the staplers she had carried. It was simple, black, just your average run-of-the-mill, no-frills, Squall-like stapler.
"Just keep picturing it," he encouraged.
Receiving no reply, it was now Squall's turn to close his eyes and relax his body. Letting his mind go blank, he tried to remain void of any of his own thoughts. After several minutes, and it was a good several minutes, Squall had still come up with nothing. He wasn't sure if this mind-reading trick would work, moreover, he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted it to on some levels.
"Rin," he finally interrupted. "With that same thing you are picturing… I want you to think about how it makes you feel. Think about any emotions attached to it."
She stifled another laugh. What kind of emotional attachment could she have to a stapler? Still, Rinoa knew not to question his motives, she trusted him. It was apparent from past experience that their bond wasn't so much a 'physical' mind connection, rather than an emotionally based one. That was good too, she would rather not have him hear, know, or even visualize certain thoughts.
Her mind returned to the stapler and tried to form a mental 'chain of emotion.' A stapler reminded of her work. Work reminded her of getting up in the morning. She immediately went to her natural adversity towards waking up early. Waking up made her think about her loathing towards the sound of her alarm. So that is what she went with, that feeling of hearing the first dreaded buzzer. As obscure as it was, it was her initial line of reasoning.
The two remained on the beach for another fifteen minutes, but nothing seemed to click. It wasn't if the bond would magically form on their first attempt; it was going to take time. Squall didn't seem disheartened in the least.
As before, he was the one to finally break the silence. "I give up. Just tell me you're not thinking about Carl."
She laughed openly; he couldn't help but to join her momentarily.
"Not even close," she managed.
"So?"
"So what?" she countered.
"So, what were you thinking of? I need to know if I was even close."
"Yeah…I was thinking of a stapler."
"What?" He continued to smile. "You worry me, you know that?"
She laughed again, allowing herself to collapse completely in the sand. He fell backwards joining her for no apparent reason beside he was there, the sand was there. They were there. He reached over pulling her body to him, until her head was pillowed by his chest. His arm wrapped protectively around her as both enjoyed their solitude away from Garden. They remained that way, in beautiful silence, as they only listened to the harmony of nature. It had been just over thirty minutes, of nothing but being within one another's company, when he regretfully stated the obvious.
"We need to get back, I suppose."
"Yeah," she agreed verbally, though she would have stayed the entire night without question.
When she begrudgingly sat up, she quickly remembered how much she disliked sand. It had this nearly supernatural ability to get in every nook, cranny, and sock…and remain there for an ungodly amount of time. She hadn't realized its intrusion when she was in his arms. Then again, she was too content to notice.
"Gah, I need to get this sand off me, and take a damn shower. I feel so icky."
"Icky, huh?" Squall chuckled to himself. She really did have a way with words. "Come on, I can't let my sorceress feel icky, it would be very un-knightly of me." He stood up, offering his hand.
When they returned to where they had tossed their stuff, Rinoa rifled through her bag looking for bottled water. Nestled between her belongings was another t-shirt she had packed 'just in case.' It was nearly identical to the one she had on. A very mischievous thought entered her mind.
Revenge.
Causally, she placed the 'twin shirt' under her own. He wasn't paying attention to her movements, which was a very good thing for her - bad for him. She would make him pay for that car horn earlier. Oh yes, she would make him pay.
They had made it back to his car and while he was putting something in the trunk, Rinoa seized this very golden opportunity. Fortunately, she had the back car door open to toss in her bag, but it also conveniently covered most of her body.
"You know Squall, as long as we're here and I feel so gross, what do you say we jump in the ocean and rinse off? It would help at least with some of the sand."
She knew her suggestion would be met with immediate dismissal.
"I don't think the salt water will be much better. Not to mention neither of us have suits."
Perfect.
She smiled devilishly crouching down and acting as if she was removing her shirt. He didn't catch on at first, but when he did, she could swear she could hear his heart stop.
"Who needs bathing suits?" she replied naughtily.
It didn't take another second for him to realize the danger he was in…what she was implying was rather obvious. He spun around quicker than he knew was humanly possible. His back was now toward her, eyes transfixed securely once again on the ocean.
For his part, he had no idea how to handle this situation. She wouldn't, would she? She couldn't mean, right? He instantly started thinking about how to diplomatically…well, do something! This was something his SeeD training seemed to skim right over.
It was at this point she knew she had him snared within her trap. Reaching under her shirt, Rinoa produced the decoy garment. Walking up behind him she tossed the second, unused shirt over his shoulder. She watched the back of his head as it seemed to follow its path as it landed directly in front of him. She knew he was mentally scrutinizing the shirt teasingly before him. Of course he had not even thought about turning back to face her. She knew his mind had obviously gone exactly to where she wanted.
Squall stared at the shirt like it was some sort of snake ready to spit venom. Maybe, at that point, she could have called the bluff, but where was the fun in that? He did put her in near cardiac arrest earlier, now she was definitely repaying the favor. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she softly whispered in his ear, "It's your move."
"Ah…Rinoa… I don't think… um… you know people… may…" He seemed to be grasping for a coherent sentence.
After another few more near inaudible babbles, she figured it was time to put her boyfriend's mind at ease.
"Oh Squall, I'm so not serious!" she said trying to keep her composure intact. However, it was to no avail as she was already bent over in hysterics. He had made no apparent attempt to move from the spot where he had been so successfully glued. She walked in front of him and retrieved the alleged 'snake'. His mind was obviously still processing that his girlfriend was, in fact, completely clothed.
"That was… not funny," Squall managed. He was still rather flustered by the whole exchange, and avoided direct eye contact at any, and all, costs.
"Oh yes it was…" she replied and then walked up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Squall, what was it you told me earlier, be ready for anything?"
