Notes: This chapter took *forever*. Plenty of others coming *after* this just flowed along, but nooo, this one stalled out for months to wrap up. Ert! After this there are other chapters sitting waiting to be published and should come faster. And here's where we start to begin couples pairing.
Love! And! Peace! (and smithereens)
Ch 3, Starry-Eyed Surprise
* * * * * * * *
The jaunt to the train station was a short one, and so should be the leg between Galbania Garden and Galbania City.
Ms. Trepe stood off to the side of the side of the chamber with her upper back leaning against the wall, legs casually crossed at the ankle, arms folded, and the bent whip idly swinging against her pink attire. Selphie was putting on a demonstration of all the expertise she retained of SeeD infiltration techniques... backtalking the defiant portal that mocked her by staying locked.
Vash started forward to lend a hand, but Quistis gently grasped his jacket. He turned to look back and she shook her head, smiling. After a second's indecision he joined her, leaning in a mirror pose by her side. All that was missing was popcorn.
The spunky girl gave it her best shot. She jumped up and down waving her arms telling the door to open, open, open. She asked nicely. She pleaded. She scolded and chastized it. She told it how happy it would make her if she could reach the pretty row of windows on the other side. The silent taunting persisted.
In the end Selphie rapped the card scanner with the chain-bolted tips of her nunchucks, like swatting a puppy on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. "Bad door, bad."
"How about telling it 'Pretty please with sugar on top'?"
"Zell!"
Preceeded by the smirking blonde, the other half of the group filed in. The cool air conditioning, polished metal enclosure, and promise of a room of thoughtfully provided furniture and cushions seemed all the more comforting after a trek through the wild. The rejoined teams exchanged greetings.
With a swift observation Squall surveyed his crew. The spunky girl's beg for admission would be inevitable, so he had best deal with it in advance.
The access card from the earlier journey shouldn't still be valid this time, but it was worth a shot. By some miracle it hadn't deactivated, and the SeeDs could help themselves to the furnished accomodations. "Thanks! That was sooo nice," Selphie chirruped, flashing a sunny smile of gratitude over her shoulder before skipping merrily ahead.
The gunblader scowled. He was just anticipating a problem and dealing with the situation ahead of time. "Nice" had nothing to do with it, so why did people insist on crediting him with feelings like this?
The chipper one took up her favorite station in the bright hallway with her palms lightly resting on the windowsill. Out of nowhere the Trabian sang Selphie's patented ditty, with the type of melody you could hear playing from an ice cream truck. Can't take a ride without singing the train theme. It's not only tradition, it's fun!
Rinoa and Zell were ready to move on as well. Those two had chummed up nicely during the short excursion. Once the hyper brawler quit seething over the slow progress, he roused to the idea of offering tips instead. "Are you ready for what we talked about, without the monsters being a distraction?"
Now he waited in front of the doorway hopping impatiently while Rinoa spoke to Squall. "We're going to try out some of his suggestions. Don't you want to join me?" she asked coyly.
Silence. She asked again. "No." She rather insisted.
Squall muttered, "Instructor is neither my rank nor my obligation. You already found someone who doesn't mind you being an imitation, so I suggest you take your advice from him."
She froze starkly as if fighting the reflex to sniffle, then popped her tongue out of her mouth and with a "Who needs you?" she whirled into the hallway. Before exiting, Zell met Squall's eyes and gave a look that could be either chastizement or scoffing, then went on his way.
Alone with Squall and Quistis, Vash sized up his odds of making any kind of headway with the female elite as long as another person, silent and stoic or not, was present to put a damper on the atmosphere. Shrugging, he glanced at the remaining companions as if wondering why he was still hanging around here, and sincerely excused himself. The tall sharpshooter entered the corridor to try his luck with the one girl currently unaccompanied.
The mechanized door remained open a minute longer before sliding closed. Airy singing floated through, the youths apparently sharing a whimsical serenade. Squall had no need for it. Given a choice of halfcocked sparring, teenagers who still sing nursery rhymes, or Quistis, the decision was final. He stayed put.
A not too quiet sound behind him turned his attention to the occupant sooner. The ex-instructor was chuckling with one hand covering her mouth again, and small shakes rippling down the front of her pink dress. Squall deduced she'd been laughing over his exchange with Rinoa. What was funny about it? All he'd been speaking was the truth.
* * * * * * * *
A poser. Imagine! If anything, she'd been a Forest Owl longer than he'd been a SeeD, so who was he to complain? And not just any crewmate, she was the boss, and nobody better forget it!
Then again, there was a reason his criticism landed personally. Somewhere along the line, she had become Squall's admirer. Not only would she win him over by measuring up to his standards, she'd show that autonomous boy she wasn't dependent on him either.
If there was one thing she learned from her mother the former singer, it was that if a man knows you'll wait for him sitting at home no matter what, he'll take you for granted and neglect you. Rinoa had already tasted it herself, waiting since last summer unsure whether "someone" was her boyfriend or not.
Her current strategy was no different than at the dance she infiltrated to contact Cid, or --let's not forget who she was especially there to see -- Seifer. Her plan while coming to Garden was that he'd witness a show of her popularity when he found her charming the other SeeDs, both to demonstrate she could fit in with his friends and to remind him he wasn't the only star in the sky. But the boy she'd picked up as a distraction had taken the lead position in her infatuations.
Of course, the strategy intended to impress her beau in both cases required leaving her crush to waste time with somebody else, a decoy. Could it be she was... using these boys?
"Think about what you're doing."
Rinoa jumped. It was Zell. How could he have? "What?"
* * * * * * * *
"Train, train, take me away. Take me away, far away. Off to the future we will go." Selphie was in bliss. Her neck craned this way and that to soak up all the sights of the countryside
The humanoid typhoon waited out the song while she was occupied with it. Then at last came a chance to talk. But the pause in between verses only made him more uncomfortable. What to say? Normally as one way to open up, he'd make an offer of free bodyguard services or somesuch. Come to think of it, that line could open a lot of possibilities in the way of getting up-close-and-personal in the name of "duty". But this girl was a fighter and would have no need of protection; she'd only giggle in his face. Aw who was he kidding, the guy got shot down so much even kids poked him about it.
But while the humanoid typhoon was standing there tonguetied, Selphie had no problems speaking. "Did you come out here to see me?" she joked.
How right she was.
* * * * * * * *
The most popular teacher of Garden straightened under his scrutiny. She confidently broke the frosty new silence with "You chose well when you assigned groups. Each of them seemed to be getting on well." She left out her own reaction to the rather clumsy, inadept prodigy.
Squall's response was predictible. "(We had one thing to do, which was to get here. Our presence is all the explaination you need to prove we did it. How they feel about it is...) ...no concern of mine."
Quistis nodded; she'd seen it coming and understood. "I suppose I needn't ask your opinion of how the excursion went then. Ours was remarkable for the fact that none of us got any experience whatsoever out of the trip."
That was rare; fighting in the field was a fact of life. For that curiosity alone he went along with it. "Oh?" He looked her way with a little more attention.
"It wound up our team did not kill a single monster. First an avalanche drove them off, then the next group of enemies escaped us, then a series of coincidences, and more... over and over, for all encounters. Can you picture freak accidents every... single... time? It's inexplicable."
Explanation given, the subject didn't hold his interest long. He grunted acknowledgement and went back behind his self-possessed wall.
Quistis continued. "But I suppose there's no sense complaining about something that's already happened and over with," she reconsidered. "All we can do is build ourselves up more next time it's our turn in battle, and we'll make up for it. The only thing to do is deal with it."
Squall watched her carefully for one long moment. He gave no encouragement or smile from the statement. But he did have a quiet feeling of appreciation.
* * * * * * * *
It was hard to believe Vash hadn't been able to speak up. Within moments Selphie was chatting away treating him like they were old friends; she was like that. The conversation was getting to riding around the countryside in Rinoa's train, their first mission to abduct President Deling, and the world address.
"...And then right after that we had the first television broadcast, ever! Okay, the first since I was born, but that's still a record. Anyway, this Vinzer Deling guy didn't sound too happy; he wanted to talk about making the world better, but by getting rid of his enemies. That's not nice. I told everyone he should say something cool," and she did the patented Selphie Tilmitt Happy Dance. "Like 'Everybody, ~ Love! ~ And! ~ Peace!' but for some reason they kinda looked at me funny...."
"Whoa! Slow down. That's my creed." All of a sudden he was beyond feeling in heaven. "Did you just say... you believe in..." In astonishment, Vash repeated her saying with a broad-footed winner's stance, arm straight out and fingers spread in a V.
"(He looks so cute when he does that.) For sure! I think it's the coolest. Don't you?"
Next thing she knew, Selphie had one dreamy, starry-eyed bishoun on her hands. Her eyes went as big as teacups as he had her smushed against his red body-jacket with both his arms squeezing the life out of her. One of its buttons left a hard groove in her earlobe. "You're incredible! And to think, you had to go halfway around the globe and I had to come all the way here for us to meet. It has to be a Sign."
"(This is crazy. After only one day someone's talking about 'meant to be'. It's too big, can't be for real.)"
Vash spoke, "Do you know how rare it is to find a soul like yours? Yours is very special, Selphie."
"(But ...what if it is true? Could I really mean that much?)" This treatment was just so... whoa. "(My heart's pounding. I'm actually trembling. There's butterflies in my stomach more than the spotlight onstage.)" It wasn't like friends had never hugged her before, but it sure hadn't been like this. "(What is this I'm feeling?)"
The man let go, loose enough for breathing room, but stayed close. Way too near for a boy. Body heat close. Is-that-your-heartbeat-or-mine, close. Eyes on her intently, close. Making her blush, close. "Yes?" slipped out.
"I want to kiss you," he answered simply, as if it were the most natural thing.
Now that the words were out, she did too. But, like this? Selphie kinda pictured herself in someone's room, or a cozy spot off by themselves at a party or club. Cozier than this, anyway. "It-it isn't very private here, you know." The view through the wide windows was alright, because the landscape was uninhabited, but her friends could come in at any time. Ahead and at her side, nothing but a door separated Quistis and Squall, Zell and Rinoa....
* * * * * * * *
"What?"
"I said think about what you're doing. Even if it's just practice, you've gotta focus." He sweatdropped. "( If this had been a legit class at the academy, and I hadn't been paying attention, they'd have my ass handed to me.)"
Time to get her spruced up for the battlefield. Indoors, they might as well practice blocking at close quarters. The trick was changing her instincts. Rinoa tended to flinch and shield her face, which pointed her launcher at some useless angle towards the ceiling. After the fifth time Zell responded by simply nudging her hands so she tapped her own forehead. That merited a scowl, but it was hard to stay mad at a boy who looked so playful while making his point. A few slow-motion repeats trained her to keep her nerves calm and her launcher imposing between any incoming threat.
There was one moment, however, when the launcher pinwheel really did fire within the enclosed space. No harm came; the only casualty was one of the arms on the four-post bunkbed. The pinwheel sliced clean through like a buzzsaw and imbedded in the wall; Rinoa pried it loose. "I feel bad for whoever takes a flop on top bunk," Zell whistled as he banged the post back in place all neat so it wouldn't look broken. "Maybe the suite wasn't the best place to try this?"
"You think?"
They exited to back to the bare compartment. On the way, "We weren't doing anything!" Selphie screamed as soon as they came through.
"Ahhh... that's good to know," Zell confirmed, having no idea what she was talking about.
Vash just smiled and waited for them to be out of the way.
* * * * * * * *
The crack of endangering furniture filtered through to the entrance cabin.
"What do you suppose they're doing in there?" Quistis queried, glancing at the separating wall.
"(Unless your powers of perception are far inferior to my own, you have equal odds of deduction as I do. Oh, nevermind.) ...Setting off projectile weapons indoors, what else." He wouldn't put it past those two.
"Yes, it's much better in here." Heads turned as the portal opened and Rinoa and Zell filed in. "We're going to practice in here for a bit," Rinoa cooed to Squall. Should she emphasize attention on her blonde decoy to pique her beau's interest? Nah, that would be pushing it. "Unless you'd like to hang out-"
Not really. Squall shouldered past most expediently. In his opinion their arrival exceeded the chamber's maximum by at least two persons, if not more. He set off in desire of a quiet den in the suite.
Apparently the crossing to the hallway caused some commotion.
"SEE what I mean?!"
For some bizarro reason, Selphie felt the need to squeal those words to Vash while pointing at him, Squall. Any chance of the gunblader coming to grips with his peers just went flying out the window, crash landed in the street, and got smashed under a semi.
He continued on, prepared to seal himself in the cushioned lounge, but magnanimously tolerated his persistent human shadow.
Quistis had entered a few steps behind, and both took up residence on the two cornering sofas. "(Not even on the same piece of furniture, let alone close),"she remarked dryly to herself, "(but it was a start.)"
Now was as good a chance as any to ask his perspective on the new way of things, him being in the lead. She actually hadn't had a chance to talk personally since the dance... and kept her fingers crossed for an improvement. "Are things different for you? Now that you're the one responsible, I mean."
For once, Squall favored her with a weary, clear-eyed expression with his guard down, before talking to his boots. "We've always been responsible. Me, you, Zell, Selphie," he listed the SeeDs he'd gotten to know. "As long as we've been in the program we've had the duty to be strong no matter how we felt about it." Somehow the command "be strong" came with a tie of sadness he couldn't explain.
After this exceptionally long speech, it was hard not to want to comfort him. Instead Quistis settled for cheering him up. "What about the authority to put everyone back in line when things get out of hand?"
She was already smirking while he thought it over and pictured himself telling Zell or Selphie to go sit in the corner. Before the day was out they'd probably deserve it too. The woman waited one minute, then suggested gently, "Whatever?"
He glanced her way sharply, grey eyes smouldering to think she would make fun of him after he'd taken the trouble to speak something genuine. But no, this wasn't a joke on him, more like a joke for him. "...It's fine," he answered instead, just to be contrary.
The corners of his lips had twinged... a fraction.
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, Rinoa hoped the time spent with her patsy would pay off and fast. Her time would be better spent pumping the SeeDs for information about the leader, or better yet, hanging out with him herself.
Training was no longer as fun, and this boy was getting on her nerves. It was probably starting to show because their moves were holding less back. In all likelyhood her mood explained why Angelo took it upon himself to "protect" her during the last pretended attack. Funny how he was so well-behaved he was rather invisible until he jumped into battle. From behind he loped onto Rinoa's arm and then rocketed at the sparring partner.
"The hell was that? You fired a dog out of a bazooka at me," Zell stared, incredulous, after picking himself up from the far wall where the strike had knocked him.
Rinoa grumbled something that didn't sound too apologetic.
"You fired a dog out of a bazooka at me!"
Ah, good to see the teens getting on so well. Half of them, at least....
Da author: Thanks for making it this far! Coming up next, "City nights" as we make it to Galbania city and the Caraway Mansion. Did you like "Starry-Eyed Surprise"? Yes or no either way drop a line! Luff to you all.~
Ch 3, Starry-Eyed Surprise
* * * * * * * *
The jaunt to the train station was a short one, and so should be the leg between Galbania Garden and Galbania City.
Ms. Trepe stood off to the side of the side of the chamber with her upper back leaning against the wall, legs casually crossed at the ankle, arms folded, and the bent whip idly swinging against her pink attire. Selphie was putting on a demonstration of all the expertise she retained of SeeD infiltration techniques... backtalking the defiant portal that mocked her by staying locked.
Vash started forward to lend a hand, but Quistis gently grasped his jacket. He turned to look back and she shook her head, smiling. After a second's indecision he joined her, leaning in a mirror pose by her side. All that was missing was popcorn.
The spunky girl gave it her best shot. She jumped up and down waving her arms telling the door to open, open, open. She asked nicely. She pleaded. She scolded and chastized it. She told it how happy it would make her if she could reach the pretty row of windows on the other side. The silent taunting persisted.
In the end Selphie rapped the card scanner with the chain-bolted tips of her nunchucks, like swatting a puppy on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. "Bad door, bad."
"How about telling it 'Pretty please with sugar on top'?"
"Zell!"
Preceeded by the smirking blonde, the other half of the group filed in. The cool air conditioning, polished metal enclosure, and promise of a room of thoughtfully provided furniture and cushions seemed all the more comforting after a trek through the wild. The rejoined teams exchanged greetings.
With a swift observation Squall surveyed his crew. The spunky girl's beg for admission would be inevitable, so he had best deal with it in advance.
The access card from the earlier journey shouldn't still be valid this time, but it was worth a shot. By some miracle it hadn't deactivated, and the SeeDs could help themselves to the furnished accomodations. "Thanks! That was sooo nice," Selphie chirruped, flashing a sunny smile of gratitude over her shoulder before skipping merrily ahead.
The gunblader scowled. He was just anticipating a problem and dealing with the situation ahead of time. "Nice" had nothing to do with it, so why did people insist on crediting him with feelings like this?
The chipper one took up her favorite station in the bright hallway with her palms lightly resting on the windowsill. Out of nowhere the Trabian sang Selphie's patented ditty, with the type of melody you could hear playing from an ice cream truck. Can't take a ride without singing the train theme. It's not only tradition, it's fun!
Rinoa and Zell were ready to move on as well. Those two had chummed up nicely during the short excursion. Once the hyper brawler quit seething over the slow progress, he roused to the idea of offering tips instead. "Are you ready for what we talked about, without the monsters being a distraction?"
Now he waited in front of the doorway hopping impatiently while Rinoa spoke to Squall. "We're going to try out some of his suggestions. Don't you want to join me?" she asked coyly.
Silence. She asked again. "No." She rather insisted.
Squall muttered, "Instructor is neither my rank nor my obligation. You already found someone who doesn't mind you being an imitation, so I suggest you take your advice from him."
She froze starkly as if fighting the reflex to sniffle, then popped her tongue out of her mouth and with a "Who needs you?" she whirled into the hallway. Before exiting, Zell met Squall's eyes and gave a look that could be either chastizement or scoffing, then went on his way.
Alone with Squall and Quistis, Vash sized up his odds of making any kind of headway with the female elite as long as another person, silent and stoic or not, was present to put a damper on the atmosphere. Shrugging, he glanced at the remaining companions as if wondering why he was still hanging around here, and sincerely excused himself. The tall sharpshooter entered the corridor to try his luck with the one girl currently unaccompanied.
The mechanized door remained open a minute longer before sliding closed. Airy singing floated through, the youths apparently sharing a whimsical serenade. Squall had no need for it. Given a choice of halfcocked sparring, teenagers who still sing nursery rhymes, or Quistis, the decision was final. He stayed put.
A not too quiet sound behind him turned his attention to the occupant sooner. The ex-instructor was chuckling with one hand covering her mouth again, and small shakes rippling down the front of her pink dress. Squall deduced she'd been laughing over his exchange with Rinoa. What was funny about it? All he'd been speaking was the truth.
* * * * * * * *
A poser. Imagine! If anything, she'd been a Forest Owl longer than he'd been a SeeD, so who was he to complain? And not just any crewmate, she was the boss, and nobody better forget it!
Then again, there was a reason his criticism landed personally. Somewhere along the line, she had become Squall's admirer. Not only would she win him over by measuring up to his standards, she'd show that autonomous boy she wasn't dependent on him either.
If there was one thing she learned from her mother the former singer, it was that if a man knows you'll wait for him sitting at home no matter what, he'll take you for granted and neglect you. Rinoa had already tasted it herself, waiting since last summer unsure whether "someone" was her boyfriend or not.
Her current strategy was no different than at the dance she infiltrated to contact Cid, or --let's not forget who she was especially there to see -- Seifer. Her plan while coming to Garden was that he'd witness a show of her popularity when he found her charming the other SeeDs, both to demonstrate she could fit in with his friends and to remind him he wasn't the only star in the sky. But the boy she'd picked up as a distraction had taken the lead position in her infatuations.
Of course, the strategy intended to impress her beau in both cases required leaving her crush to waste time with somebody else, a decoy. Could it be she was... using these boys?
"Think about what you're doing."
Rinoa jumped. It was Zell. How could he have? "What?"
* * * * * * * *
"Train, train, take me away. Take me away, far away. Off to the future we will go." Selphie was in bliss. Her neck craned this way and that to soak up all the sights of the countryside
The humanoid typhoon waited out the song while she was occupied with it. Then at last came a chance to talk. But the pause in between verses only made him more uncomfortable. What to say? Normally as one way to open up, he'd make an offer of free bodyguard services or somesuch. Come to think of it, that line could open a lot of possibilities in the way of getting up-close-and-personal in the name of "duty". But this girl was a fighter and would have no need of protection; she'd only giggle in his face. Aw who was he kidding, the guy got shot down so much even kids poked him about it.
But while the humanoid typhoon was standing there tonguetied, Selphie had no problems speaking. "Did you come out here to see me?" she joked.
How right she was.
* * * * * * * *
The most popular teacher of Garden straightened under his scrutiny. She confidently broke the frosty new silence with "You chose well when you assigned groups. Each of them seemed to be getting on well." She left out her own reaction to the rather clumsy, inadept prodigy.
Squall's response was predictible. "(We had one thing to do, which was to get here. Our presence is all the explaination you need to prove we did it. How they feel about it is...) ...no concern of mine."
Quistis nodded; she'd seen it coming and understood. "I suppose I needn't ask your opinion of how the excursion went then. Ours was remarkable for the fact that none of us got any experience whatsoever out of the trip."
That was rare; fighting in the field was a fact of life. For that curiosity alone he went along with it. "Oh?" He looked her way with a little more attention.
"It wound up our team did not kill a single monster. First an avalanche drove them off, then the next group of enemies escaped us, then a series of coincidences, and more... over and over, for all encounters. Can you picture freak accidents every... single... time? It's inexplicable."
Explanation given, the subject didn't hold his interest long. He grunted acknowledgement and went back behind his self-possessed wall.
Quistis continued. "But I suppose there's no sense complaining about something that's already happened and over with," she reconsidered. "All we can do is build ourselves up more next time it's our turn in battle, and we'll make up for it. The only thing to do is deal with it."
Squall watched her carefully for one long moment. He gave no encouragement or smile from the statement. But he did have a quiet feeling of appreciation.
* * * * * * * *
It was hard to believe Vash hadn't been able to speak up. Within moments Selphie was chatting away treating him like they were old friends; she was like that. The conversation was getting to riding around the countryside in Rinoa's train, their first mission to abduct President Deling, and the world address.
"...And then right after that we had the first television broadcast, ever! Okay, the first since I was born, but that's still a record. Anyway, this Vinzer Deling guy didn't sound too happy; he wanted to talk about making the world better, but by getting rid of his enemies. That's not nice. I told everyone he should say something cool," and she did the patented Selphie Tilmitt Happy Dance. "Like 'Everybody, ~ Love! ~ And! ~ Peace!' but for some reason they kinda looked at me funny...."
"Whoa! Slow down. That's my creed." All of a sudden he was beyond feeling in heaven. "Did you just say... you believe in..." In astonishment, Vash repeated her saying with a broad-footed winner's stance, arm straight out and fingers spread in a V.
"(He looks so cute when he does that.) For sure! I think it's the coolest. Don't you?"
Next thing she knew, Selphie had one dreamy, starry-eyed bishoun on her hands. Her eyes went as big as teacups as he had her smushed against his red body-jacket with both his arms squeezing the life out of her. One of its buttons left a hard groove in her earlobe. "You're incredible! And to think, you had to go halfway around the globe and I had to come all the way here for us to meet. It has to be a Sign."
"(This is crazy. After only one day someone's talking about 'meant to be'. It's too big, can't be for real.)"
Vash spoke, "Do you know how rare it is to find a soul like yours? Yours is very special, Selphie."
"(But ...what if it is true? Could I really mean that much?)" This treatment was just so... whoa. "(My heart's pounding. I'm actually trembling. There's butterflies in my stomach more than the spotlight onstage.)" It wasn't like friends had never hugged her before, but it sure hadn't been like this. "(What is this I'm feeling?)"
The man let go, loose enough for breathing room, but stayed close. Way too near for a boy. Body heat close. Is-that-your-heartbeat-or-mine, close. Eyes on her intently, close. Making her blush, close. "Yes?" slipped out.
"I want to kiss you," he answered simply, as if it were the most natural thing.
Now that the words were out, she did too. But, like this? Selphie kinda pictured herself in someone's room, or a cozy spot off by themselves at a party or club. Cozier than this, anyway. "It-it isn't very private here, you know." The view through the wide windows was alright, because the landscape was uninhabited, but her friends could come in at any time. Ahead and at her side, nothing but a door separated Quistis and Squall, Zell and Rinoa....
* * * * * * * *
"What?"
"I said think about what you're doing. Even if it's just practice, you've gotta focus." He sweatdropped. "( If this had been a legit class at the academy, and I hadn't been paying attention, they'd have my ass handed to me.)"
Time to get her spruced up for the battlefield. Indoors, they might as well practice blocking at close quarters. The trick was changing her instincts. Rinoa tended to flinch and shield her face, which pointed her launcher at some useless angle towards the ceiling. After the fifth time Zell responded by simply nudging her hands so she tapped her own forehead. That merited a scowl, but it was hard to stay mad at a boy who looked so playful while making his point. A few slow-motion repeats trained her to keep her nerves calm and her launcher imposing between any incoming threat.
There was one moment, however, when the launcher pinwheel really did fire within the enclosed space. No harm came; the only casualty was one of the arms on the four-post bunkbed. The pinwheel sliced clean through like a buzzsaw and imbedded in the wall; Rinoa pried it loose. "I feel bad for whoever takes a flop on top bunk," Zell whistled as he banged the post back in place all neat so it wouldn't look broken. "Maybe the suite wasn't the best place to try this?"
"You think?"
They exited to back to the bare compartment. On the way, "We weren't doing anything!" Selphie screamed as soon as they came through.
"Ahhh... that's good to know," Zell confirmed, having no idea what she was talking about.
Vash just smiled and waited for them to be out of the way.
* * * * * * * *
The crack of endangering furniture filtered through to the entrance cabin.
"What do you suppose they're doing in there?" Quistis queried, glancing at the separating wall.
"(Unless your powers of perception are far inferior to my own, you have equal odds of deduction as I do. Oh, nevermind.) ...Setting off projectile weapons indoors, what else." He wouldn't put it past those two.
"Yes, it's much better in here." Heads turned as the portal opened and Rinoa and Zell filed in. "We're going to practice in here for a bit," Rinoa cooed to Squall. Should she emphasize attention on her blonde decoy to pique her beau's interest? Nah, that would be pushing it. "Unless you'd like to hang out-"
Not really. Squall shouldered past most expediently. In his opinion their arrival exceeded the chamber's maximum by at least two persons, if not more. He set off in desire of a quiet den in the suite.
Apparently the crossing to the hallway caused some commotion.
"SEE what I mean?!"
For some bizarro reason, Selphie felt the need to squeal those words to Vash while pointing at him, Squall. Any chance of the gunblader coming to grips with his peers just went flying out the window, crash landed in the street, and got smashed under a semi.
He continued on, prepared to seal himself in the cushioned lounge, but magnanimously tolerated his persistent human shadow.
Quistis had entered a few steps behind, and both took up residence on the two cornering sofas. "(Not even on the same piece of furniture, let alone close),"she remarked dryly to herself, "(but it was a start.)"
Now was as good a chance as any to ask his perspective on the new way of things, him being in the lead. She actually hadn't had a chance to talk personally since the dance... and kept her fingers crossed for an improvement. "Are things different for you? Now that you're the one responsible, I mean."
For once, Squall favored her with a weary, clear-eyed expression with his guard down, before talking to his boots. "We've always been responsible. Me, you, Zell, Selphie," he listed the SeeDs he'd gotten to know. "As long as we've been in the program we've had the duty to be strong no matter how we felt about it." Somehow the command "be strong" came with a tie of sadness he couldn't explain.
After this exceptionally long speech, it was hard not to want to comfort him. Instead Quistis settled for cheering him up. "What about the authority to put everyone back in line when things get out of hand?"
She was already smirking while he thought it over and pictured himself telling Zell or Selphie to go sit in the corner. Before the day was out they'd probably deserve it too. The woman waited one minute, then suggested gently, "Whatever?"
He glanced her way sharply, grey eyes smouldering to think she would make fun of him after he'd taken the trouble to speak something genuine. But no, this wasn't a joke on him, more like a joke for him. "...It's fine," he answered instead, just to be contrary.
The corners of his lips had twinged... a fraction.
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, Rinoa hoped the time spent with her patsy would pay off and fast. Her time would be better spent pumping the SeeDs for information about the leader, or better yet, hanging out with him herself.
Training was no longer as fun, and this boy was getting on her nerves. It was probably starting to show because their moves were holding less back. In all likelyhood her mood explained why Angelo took it upon himself to "protect" her during the last pretended attack. Funny how he was so well-behaved he was rather invisible until he jumped into battle. From behind he loped onto Rinoa's arm and then rocketed at the sparring partner.
"The hell was that? You fired a dog out of a bazooka at me," Zell stared, incredulous, after picking himself up from the far wall where the strike had knocked him.
Rinoa grumbled something that didn't sound too apologetic.
"You fired a dog out of a bazooka at me!"
Ah, good to see the teens getting on so well. Half of them, at least....
Da author: Thanks for making it this far! Coming up next, "City nights" as we make it to Galbania city and the Caraway Mansion. Did you like "Starry-Eyed Surprise"? Yes or no either way drop a line! Luff to you all.~
