Chapter Two:
The Quad was surprisingly empty. Tessa had figured that a Garden the size of Balamb would have a bustling recreational centre, but she saw almost nobody.
There was a small stage, the portable metal kind with a white backdrop. In the centre of the stage two boys were trading lines that Tessa recognized were from "I Want to be a Canary." Off to the side, sitting on the very edge of the stage, was a woman in a SeeD uniform who was holding an acoustic guitar. Sitting next to her was a young man in a student uniform. Every so often he would take the guitar from the SeeD and correct a mistake she had made.
Next to the stage was a concession stand. It was manned by a bored-looking youth who looked as though he couldn't keep his eyes open. Tessa approached him with her keycard in hand, hoping she was in the right place.
The man was wearing a cowboy hat low over his eyes. He had long, brown hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail. Tessa could see a hint of stubble on his chin and in his left earlobe he sported a hoped earring. Over a taupe shirt he wore a tan duster with fringes.
"Hmm?" he said when Tessa reach the stand. He tipped his hat back to reveal a handsome face with high cheekbones and dark brown eyes. The eyes traveled up and down Tessa's body appraisingly, which gave Tessa a cold feeling in her bones. He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the counter. "What can I do for ya, Lil' Missy?"
Tessa almost laughed at his bad accent. She found the whole cowboy shtick rather hilarious, but rather enjoyed his flirting.
"Ya here to see, Moi?" he asked with a grin that showed his white teeth. He jerked a thumb in the direction of the girl with the guitar. "'Cause I'm taken."
"I need a uniform," Tessa said with a giggle. "Student, not SeeD."
"Y'know," he said as he lifted his feet and plopped them on the counter, "we had different uniforms at Galbadia Garden."
"Oh, you transferred here after the Sorceress Edea took control of Galbadia Garden?" Tessa said awe. Her eyes grew wide and her interest piqued.
"Something like that," he said with a wave of his hand. "Now, let's see what we can put on that cute little figure of yours." He winked and formed a pistol with his fingers, which he aimed at her.
"My ID number is CL99F-5," she said, trying to be helpful.
"Actually, it's another set of numbers I need," he said as he fired his imaginary gun at her.
"I'm an eight," she said with a glance at the guitar-girl.
He winked and dove beneath the counter. Tessa could hear the scratching of cardboard on concrete and assumed that there were boxes through which he was pawing. He reappeared a minute later with a skirt and shirt encased in plastic.
"Actually, I meant that I'm an eight in men's clothing," Tessa said with a laugh and a slap to her forehead. "Sorry about that."
"Huh?" he said, his accent momentarily faltering. Then he seemed to catch himself and tried to cover it up with an extra thick accent. "Why would a purdy thang like you need to go and wear men's clothes?"
"I think skirts are a symbol of the division between the sexes. That's why I never wear them," Tessa said. She lifted up her leg and showed him her pants for emphasis. "Feminism 101"
"Well, rules are rules. Sorry, Missy, but it's a skirt for you. Now, what's your real size?" he said with a tip of his hat. Tessa merely rolled her eyes. She had encountered such backward thinking before at Lotia Garden.
"No, they're not. I consulted the rule book before coming here, and it does not state anything about uniforms being specifically for one sex," Tessa said with a flick of her hair and a wink back. The cowboy grinned but tried to hide it. She could tell that he loved the confrontation.
"Still, I don't think I should let such a purdy thang as you hide yer body," he said.
Tessa could feel herself growing annoyed. She slammed one hand, open-palmed, on the counter and grabbed his shirt with the other. She pulled his face up to hers with surprising strength. Snarling, she growled: "I want my pants, you stupid hick." Then Tessa pushed him back into his seat.
His eyes were wide and his face pale with fear. Tessa was mentally patting herself on the back when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Tessa turned around and saw the girl that had been playing the guitar.
She was a brunette and wore her hair with the ends spread out and slightly curved. Her skin was pale and her nose was oddly angled, like it had been broken some time before. She had green eyes that grew fiery and glared into Tessa's own.
"Keep your hands off of my man," the girl said was a shove at Tessa. "You have to go through me before you can get to him."
"You can keep the pig," Tessa said with a shove back. "He was the one flirting with me."
"Right, then why did YOU grab his shirt?" The girl said with the accompaniment of another push. Tessa stumbled a bit but stayed upright. "Everyone thinks that because he's Galbadian he must be a flirt, but he's not."
"Please," Tessa retorted with a roll of her eyes. "He's not a flirt because he's Galbadian, he's a flirt because he's a man."
"Just back off, okay?" the SeeD said with a ferociousness in her voice that Tessa had only heard once before, though she couldn't remember when. "He's MINE, and you'd better remember that."
"All I need is my uniform, and I'll be on my way," Tessa said. The cowboy shoved something in Tessa's hand. Without thanking him, she took the package and walked away.
Tessa was halfway across the Quad before she looked at the outfit in her grasp. He had given her the women's outfit! Forming a fist with her free hand and tightening her grip on the uniform, Tessa turned around and resolutely marched back to the cowboy.
"I said I was a size eight in MEN'S!" she yelled as she threw the package in his face. "Now give me my goddamn uniform so I can get the hell out of here!"
"You don't talk to him like that!" the SeeD yelled angrily. She had returned to her previous perch on the stage, but now she stood on it. The SeeD began to run, and when she reached the edge she dived off of it and tackled Tessa.
"Get off of me, you stupid bitch!" Tessa yelled as she took her clenched hand and punched the SeeD in her face.
"Get off my man!" the SeeD yelled back as she took a handful of Tessa's hair and pulled as hard as she could. Tessa felt several strands come loose.
Tessa painfully reared her head back and butted the other woman's head, with momentarily stunned the SeeD. Using the fraction of a second she had, Tessa brought as much of her knee as she could into the SeeD's ribcage. But before she could do anything else, the SeeD had her hands around Tessa's neck.
Tessa could feel her lungs filling with stale air as she struggled to breathe and tore uselessly at the SeeD's hands. The SeeD had received infinitely more training and probably been on numerous missions. Gathering what wits she had, Tessa unclenched her hand and rammed her jagged fingernails into the soft flesh of the SeeD's exposed side.
The SeeD released her grip, but Tessa felt another pair of hands wrap themselves around her. She watched as the cowboy restrained his girlfriend while the stranger did the same to her.
Tessa struggled for a few seconds before giving up and calming down. She took in short, sharp breaths that cut her lungs. She held up her hands as a sign of peace and the person let her go. The cowboy, on the other hand, was forced to drag away his girlfriend with the help of the guitar guy. The two guys on the stage merely exchanged goofy glances, clearly aroused by the fight that they had just been witnesses to.
Men are stupid, Tessa thought angrily.
"You may want to watch yourself around Selphie, she pretty experienced. If she'd have had a GF junctioned, you would've been toast," the stranger that had restrained her said.
Tessa turned around found herself staring at woman that looked vaguely familiar, like she'd met her before. The woman was wearing civilian clothing, like Tessa, but she gave off a feeling of warmth and tenderness. Her hair was black and hung loosely around her shoulders. Her eyes were brown and her face was as delicate as a porcelain doll. She wore a necklace with a ring, which was shaped like the head of a monster that Tessa had never before seen, on it. In her left hand was a band of leather, which was attached to a chain that was connected to a dog at the woman's side.
"Selphie?" Tessa said shock. "Selphie Tilmitt?"
"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't know," the woman said a laugh. "Let's get you to Cid, it'll save time and make you look better if you go before being summoned. Come on, I'll walk you there."
"Thanks," Tessa said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she had just been fighting one of the people that had saved the world from the clutches of a crazed Sorceress from the future.
The strange woman was talking about nonsense topics when something else occurred to Tessa. They'd just passed the infirmary when it struck her.
"If that was Selphie Tilmitt I was just fighting, does that mean that the guy in the cowboy getup was…"
"Yeah," the woman said with a laugh, "that was Irvine Kinneas, marksman extraordinaire. He fancies himself as a ladies man, but Selphie freaks out whenever another girl so much as brushes his arm as they walk through the halls."
"I can't believe I got into a fight with Selphie Tilmitt over Irvine Kinneas refusing to give me my requested uniform," Tessa groaned as she shook her head in disbelief. "I called him a stupid hick!"
"Hey, good for you," the woman said with a full-throated laugh as they stopped for the dog to scratch around and sniff at several potted plants in the Garden's lobby. "He has been a pain in the ass for who knows how long. I feel like slapping him every time I see him."
"Cheer up, Cid won't think too lowly of you. He's been doing this for a lot of years, and now that Edea is running Trabia Garden… well, he's less preoccupied than I hear he used to be," the woman told Tessa.
"Wow," Tessa said admirably as they strolled across the Garden Grounds. She was so interested in what the woman had to say that she didn't notice the people gawking at her. "You really know a lot. Do you know them?"
"I should," the woman said with another laugh. "I fought Ultimecia alongside them."
"Then you're…" but Tessa couldn't finish her sentence. She pointed at the woman's dog and spoke in a quiet whisper. "And that's…"
"You guessed it!" the woman said excitedly. She offered Tessa a friendly handshake, which Tessa shook a little too enthusiastically. "I'm Rinoa Heartilly and this my buddy, Angelo."
Tessa stopped walking and squatted to Angelo's eye-level. She reached out and felt his matted fur, and then she started to scratch under his muzzle.
"He's amazing," Tessa said in awe. Now that the woman had been revealed as Rinoa Heartilly, Tessa could understand how she was able to pull her and Selphie apart. However, she was also a little scared to be in the presence of an actual Sorceress. "How old is he?"
"He's six," Rinoa said with a little awe herself. "When most people learn about us, they focus solely on me and ignore him."
"I would never do that," Tessa said as Angelo licked her face. "I love animals, especially dogs and cats. At my old Garden my roommate and I had a pet snake. She kept it, though."
"Old Garden?" Rinoa said sadly. "You're one of the Galbadia or Trabia refugees? I'm sorry for your loss."
"No," Tessa said quickly as she moved up to scratching behind Angelo's ears. "I transferred from Lotia Garden, today's my first day at Balamb Garden."
"Oh," Rinoa said with a curious look. "It's your first day and already you've gotten into a fight, insulted a man over clothes, and met three famous people. Man, Seifer is going to love you."
"The security guard by the Administration Building?" Tessa asked with an eyebrow raised. She stood back up and they continued on their way to the headmaster
"You've met him then," Rinoa said. "So you'll agree that he's… colourful?"
"Sure," Tessa said with a shrug as they walked out of the entrance doors. The sunlight hit her eyes fiercely and when she lifted her hands to block it she realized just how much pain she was in.
"Are you okay?" Rinoa asked when she saw Tessa's wincing face.
"Yeah, just a little sore," Tessa said as she slowly lowered her arms. She watched as two girls stood under a tree while whispering and pointing at Tessa. She was suddenly aware of her appearance. "Can we just go?"
The two women walked the rest of the way in silence, Angelo staying by Tessa's side. From time to time she would reach down and scratch his head and he would whine when she didn't. Before she knew it, Tessa found herself in front of the security shack.
"Hey, wake up!" Rinoa yelled. She put her hands on her hips and kicked the paneling on the side of the small building. Seifer roused and gave Rinoa a dirty look.
"What do you want?" he asked bitterly. He narrowed his eyes and Tessa swore she could hear him grinding his teeth.
"She needs to see Cid," Rinoa yelled. She put her hand on the small of Tessa's back and pushed her to where Seifer could get a better view. "Let her through."
"Yeah, yeah," Seifer said with a flourish of his left hand. "Go on through and leave me alone."
"Good luck!" Rinoa said cheerfully with a slap on Tessa's back. She winced but Rinoa didn't notice. Tessa watched as Rinoa walked away, Angelo trotting at her side.
"Hey, move it already," Seifer yelled from behind Tessa, causing her to jump. She nodded and walked by.
The idiot should be castrated, Tessa thought angrily as she walked into the Administration building for the second time that day.