"Squall."

Squall quickly decided that this particular Quad bench had to be cursed, as he heard his name being called from the top of the stair. Glancing up, he scowled at Nida as the other SeeD came down toward him.

"What is it?" he growled, not being much in the mood for any sort of conversation.

Nida came up in front of him, crossing his arms and glowering. "I'm only going to say this once," he said. "Stop picking on my little sister."

Squall glowered for a moment, about to say something, when Nida held up a hand.

"I don't care what you have to say; I don't care what delusion you've come up with to justify it all. I don't want to hear it. You're a SeeD, and a responsible one, at that--you should be able to see when you're acting inappropriately. Stop it."

Squall shook his head. "What's going on here?" he demanded. "Why are you protecting her?"

Nida stared. "Oh, Hyne," he swore. "Thank god you never had a family. She's my sister, Squall, do I have to spell it out for you?"

"If I ordered you to tell me what was going on--"

"You can't," Nida interrupted. "Not only do you have no legal or provable circumstantial reason to, but I outrank you."

...what? "I'm SeeD rank A," Squall stated.

Nida fished in his pocket for a moment, and withdrew his SeeD ID card. Handing it to Squall, he smirked slightly as Squall took it and read the information present on it.

NIDA {NO LAST NAME}
CLASS OF 4084
SEED RANK A++

"......."

"If you're like most people, the first question you'll have is 'What the hell,' modified for the level of civility you want to convey. Let's just say that it was a technicality that Cid let slip, and leave it at that. At the moment, I am the single highest-ranking SeeD in Garden. Technically, I could be ordering you around...." Nida paused to smile sardonically. "But I won't."

"......."

"Still, if you keep this witch hunt up, I will start to be tempted to use that rank of mine. Okay? Don't make me throw my weight around. Things will start getting ugly."

"............."

"Can I have my ID back? I swear that however long you look you won't find evidence of forgery. Check with Cid or Xu directly if you don't believe me."

Squall silently handed back the ID, sending a cold glare along with it. Standing and turning, he made his way out of the Quad and away to brood. Nida quietly watched him go.

~

With a last glance at the papers she held in hand, Xu delivered a few professional knocks to the door in front of her. "Zell?" she called. "Are you in there?"

There was a slight pause. "Xu?" an unusually muffled and deflated voice called back.

"Yes," Xu said, wondering for a moment what was going on. "I have the results from your preliminary Instructor Exams here. Would you like to see them?"

There was another pause. "Are you alone?"

Now, that certainly wasn't what she had expected to hear. "Excuse me?"

"There's not a--a GF out there, is there?"

Xu glanced around the halls, unsure of what he meant. "I have my GFs junctioned, if--"

"No," Zell corrected. "Is there a really big Tetra-Elemental bull out there?"

Xu had to blink several times before that registered. "No," she replied. "There's no one out here except myself."

There was a slight rustle from beyond the door, then it slid open to reveal a rather disheveled and distinctly wary Zell. His eyes glanced from side to side, scanning the hall, before he stepped back to invite her in. Xu stepped into the room, quite confused.

"So, what did I get?"

"Ah," Xu began. "Well, the preliminary tests suggest that you should take some more SeeD classes before you really work toward getting an Instructor position. However, if you do want to continue with Instructor training, they have a few areas they suggest you'd be qualified for."

"Yeah?" Zell brightened. "What?"

Xu held out the papers, and Zell took them eagerly. Flipping through, he finally found the list of bolded courses.

"...Remedial Standard English and Basic Paramagic?"

"There is an Instructing course offered for SeeDs next class rotation," Xu informed him helpfully.

"Uh, Xu?" Zell asked, still staring at the papers. "Is there any way I could, uh... retake the tests?"

Xu frowned. "I'm not sure," she said. "You'll have to check with our Records Manager, Mr. Daneken. He'll be happy to see what forms you need to apply for a retest."

"...thanks," Zell said. "I think I'll go see him."

"He's in the second-floor office," Xu supplied helpfully.

"Right-o!" Zell said cheerily. "Thanks!"

Zell sprinted down the hall, leaving Xu to exit her room and head to whatever her next task was. Which, she decided after a moment of pause, was going to be heading to the library to see if she could find any records of a tetra-elemental bull....