Three Final Fantasy characters walk into a bar

[silentnarration]

WHO: Squall, Seifer, Cloud, ??
WHAT: Trying out weapons
WHERE: Workshop outside the city
WHEN: Sep 3
WARNINGS: Fight! Potentially blood and injury

Holding a gunblade in his hand again, even if it's just blade without the gun, is exhilarating. Doesn't matter what else Squall doubts about his own future, he won't give this up anytime soon. Plus, it's great stress relief from the hellish invasion of memories just weeks ago.

There's a lot of things making this fun. One, he's never fought alongside Seifer before. Two, Cloud is... remarkably powerful, way beyond what his stature and figure would indicate. Three, the prototype gunblade is a great teaser to what Seifer is going to eventually make.

He falls back to stay out of range of Cloud's buster sword (how is he even wielding that so easily?), eyes flicking over to Seifer to see what he's doing. It's strange having to flip his thoughts from how to counter Seifer's attacks to how to complement it, but all those years of fighting each other is working in their favor now.

He runs in to swipe at an opening from the other side. He's precision and skill even without the trigger component. It's clear he's treating the sparring session like a real battle. Seifer's taught him that much.

Comments

[firacrux]

They're prototypes, not sharpened, but good enough for a practice run. He hasn't completely finished the work on honing Cloud's blade either, there's still some fine polishing and sharpening to do there as well. But with it built they might as well see if it's weighted correctly for his combat style, right? Such a large sword is so out of his realm of expertise it's going to take some time to get it right.

Astonishing the guy can even lift the damned thing. It took all of Seifer's arms to maneuver it from the heat into the specially made quenching trough, and even then he was so worried it'd break in the bath. Thankfully it held up, and now it was time to see how it performed. He kept a faint eye on what Squall was doing out of his peripheral, but much of his attention was focused on Cloud. These gunbladers took sparring seriously, Seifer in particular.

As Squall closed in on one side, Seifer closed in on the other, surprisingly light on his feet for someone so large, his combat style more a spinning dance of whirling blades than the heavier more focused punch of Squall's strikes.

[bravers]

[Both Seifer and Squall had looked surprised when he'd taken the slab of steel from the workbench with a single hand, turning it in the air slowly as he'd examined it. Of course, the cursory examination of the thing Seifer had made wasn't enough to really get a feel for it- so the suggestion to take things a little more physically was a good one.

Youth's something that smiles on all of them- but Seifer and Squall especially so. Especially because they seem to shrug off the stagger from every deflection he can offer and come right back at him. That's what makes this fun. Their energy, for the moment, seems to be just as limitless as his- and while the sword he's using is unfamiliar, the only issue he's having is not wrecking the place, to be honest.

That, and forcing back the pincer-like attacks of two talented soldiers with a similar style, similar training, and enough coordination to actually be a threat without actually hurting them.

As they both near, seemingly combining their efforts, He finds a small breath of amusement leaving him. Honestly, this is probably the most fun he's had for a long time. He charges toward them- his sword raised slightly, but behind him. And as they near, the glint of their prototype blades turning blinding, he throws himself onto his knees- skidding past the both of them, turning his sword in his wrist to level the flat side at knee height.

...Think fast, SeeD and should have been SeeD.]

[silentnarration]

[It's a surprise move. Squall's eyes widen and he has just enough time to leap forward and over it, turning his landing into a roll before he rights himself in a crouch. He sprints forward to get at Cloud's back. Both hands clutching the prototype and swinging it in an upward backhand slash.

He doesn't remember to use the flat side despite Cloud having just done so.]

[firacrux]

[Sure, Seifer had known Cloud was ridiculously strong. He still couldn't anticipate the ease with which Cloud would lift that damned hunk of metal. As if it were light as a feather after he himself struggled to move the damned thing around! Guess he won't have to worry about the weight for future designs.

The maneuver seemed strange as Cloud turned to run at them with his sword behind, and Seifer was right. Like the low sweep of a T-Rexaur's tail, aiming to take them out at the knees. Squall took the first portion of the swing, and Seifer followed suit mere moments behind, landing deftly and spinning with a surprising amount of grace for someone his size. Agility and constant motion were more his area of expertise than Squall, who was typically far more calculating.

His slash came more quickly, as he'd hit the ground and turned upon his opponent in one fluid motion, aiming a spinning slash, flat side out, as he moved.

He's been practicing being more careful with Nida. Evidently Squall forgot his memo.]

[bravers]

[Perhaps this is unfair. He can take in everything exactly as it happens- react and counter accordingly, with reflexes far quicker than what most have any right to be.

Or perhaps it's not unfair, since he's not had to watch his every move like this for a long time.

The pair certainly have him on the defence, unable to press any sort of attack so far. Seifer's quicker than what someone his size has any right to be. Squall, he's certainly tactically a cut above most too. It's clear from the way they're working together, both attacking from each flank, both attacking from front and rear, that they're using their numbers as an advantage. The moment he'd strike at either of them, the other would have the opening they needed.

Squall's strong, too. If he can use that...

As Squall's blade comes at his back, he can only hope he's putting full force into the upward slash. Because if he was, his blade would clang and probably bounce against the slab of a sword at his back, impact driving it backward and (if he was lucky) staggering him.

As for Seifer's slash, it's all he can do to take advantage of the height disparity between them and step under it and hopefully around him- wrenching his sword from his back and using it, lengthways, in attempt to drive him back.]

An aftermath

[silentnarration]

Getting a sword that heavy to the head? Not the best of times. A rational person would have stopped fighting Seifer by now considering the number of times Squall has ended up laid out on the floor.

He thinks he blacked out for a bit but he's really not sure. He's just staring up at the really tall ceiling of the warehouse, trying in vain to count the individual rafters. Wait, why is he even doing that?

He frowns in confusion and looks at... Cloud. Right. That's his name. He doesn't know much about him, does he? Except... he makes a disgusted face at the memory.

"Please tell me you killed the gross fat man."

[bravers]

[Cloud'd been surprised to learn that Squall's skull could make the kind of noise it did as the flat of his sword had made an impact with it.

It was a mistake. An accident.

He'd honestly, truly expected Squall to move- the action of whirling his sword around his body as he'd dodged Squall's slash to his back more for show, for warning than for anything else- but the velocity attached to it making it impossible to stop, even when he'd discovered that Squall hadn't moved.

And... yeah. Squall's skull really hadn't made the best of noises. It was kind of wet, the noise. Like kicking a melon, kind of. And he'd crumpled. Cloud almost swore he'd heard a quiet grunt shortly before his sword dropped to the concrete floor.

And now he was leaned over him, looking down at him with no small amount of concern, turning his head this way and that, to check for bleeding.]

...Huh?

[The mention of Don Corneo is...
...Odd. And something he doesn't quite understand, present circumstances, and all.]

[firacrux]

Hey, this one wasn't Seifer's fault. Squall froze up at the worst time and took a blow to the head, one he was almost sure permanently rattled his brain. While Cloud took over laying him down and making sure he wasn't immediately dead Seifer had gone to fetch a first aid kit he'd fortunately brought down to the shop for just such an occasion.

Upon returning he was glad to see Squall conscious.

"You ain't supposed to block it with your head, dipshit. I thought the first scar would've taught you that," He remarked, holding the kit over Cloud's shoulder. "You know how to run one of these?" This is code for he's concerned, and might try to bring in a medic if it looks any worse.

[silentnarration]

Maybe it smacked all his internal monologues out of his head. There was no blood and hopefully nothing internal. He was about to answer Cloud and complain about having his head moved around when Seifer's voice filtered in.

He froze but his eyes still tracked the source of it to Seifer's face and down to... Blood.

That spike of anxiety is something he's only ever experienced because of Rinoa. The fear of losing her because of his own failures. There was a look of panic before he covered his face with his hands. It didn't stop the hitch in his breath or the high-pitched groan that escaped.

His mind was running a mile a minute. Why did he freeze? He never froze. He should have been better about maybe not stabbing Seifer. How were they supposed to spar from now on? It's not like this is the first time he's killed. Why did he stab Seifer? What if Seifer dropped dead? What if--

"I'm sorry... Don't die. I'm sorry-" His words were coming out in quick breathless strings. His usual filters momentarily out of service courtesy of the huge chunk of metal to the head.

1v1 (Seifer)

[bravers]

[At early afternoon, Cloud had received a message. He wasn't that accustomed to getting them- at least not directly- and it'd been surprising, to say the least. But saying that, the day itself had been surprising.

From receiving a letter with some keys, and directions to walk outside the apartment block, the discovery of a very familiar Shinra-manufactured motorbike (the Malakye family? Maybe? But how?) had made today extremely surprising. And to top it all off, Seifer sent him a message, to meet him.

Weird. Especially since normally he dropped by much later on in the day.
Still, may as well take the bike.

As he travels through the city, even the changing streets isn't that much of a problem. Not when he can correct his course himself, not when he can backtrack when needed, and cut traffic in order to take time off the trip. Even stopping for food is made considerably easier without having to wait for another bus.

He gets there in good time, the heavy, deep hum of the thing's engine sounding that much louder in the abandoned district that housed the forge.

Well. It's loud. The lack of anything around them makes it that way. But what's coming from the building that housed the forge is just as loud. The doors are open, so Seifer's probably at work. So. He takes the packaged offerings- (This time something warm- since he saved so much time) lstands up the bike somewhere not-so-obvious, pockets the keys, and walks inside.

It's so loud, it's probably useless to shout. So he takes his nailbat- rapping it against a steel support post in order to get Seifer's attention.

And yes, Crocdog lumbers toward him, fins slapping against the floor of the forge, tongue lolling out.]

[firacrux]

[How did Seifer get there so early? He probably stayed over night. Guy has a bad habit of working himself through ridiculous hours, especially once he's nearing completion of a project. And boy, was he ever. This was the biggest, and the culmination of his paying Cloud for the effort thus far.

Deeper within the warehouse he was putting on some of the finishing touches, beginning to put the edge on Cloud's blade with a battery powered grinder. It made a lot of noise, and came with a shower of bright sparks. Near the trough he'd built specifically for dousing the ridiculously large blade the floor was scorched black, apparently he'd finished that part up not terribly long ago.

He'd already affixed and wrapped the handle, now it was just putting an edge, polish and sharpening left to do. Eventually he does notice the motion of Cloud and Eos approaching.]

"Huh, you got here quick."

[He didn't have time to polish! Ah well, still worth showing the nearly finished product. ]

[bravers]

Yeah. I got something that's probably gonna help with getting here and back.

[His tone's pretty nonchalant, and as he approaches, he finds his gaze drawn to all of the sparks flying off the slab that Seifer's working on. It's... really coming along. It even looks usable now.

He keeps his distance as he lingers, leaning down to give Eos a quick headscritch with a spare hand. ...Which is met with Eos promptly flopping onto his back for a belly rub. Shamelessly.

He watches a few moments longer, and raises his voice over the sound of the grinder.]

Hey, cut that out for a while. I brought you food.

[firacrux]

Oh yeah? You got some wheels?

[Very nice. Seifer's envious, the bus is a long ride. Maybe he should look into picking up some kind of small vehicle that actually runs. Could use it to haul things around. Like water, boy does he need more water down here.

It's definitely usable, just needs sharpened. And polished if he's into the shiny look. Eos is a good boy and stays well away from the sparks and flames, still close enough to get belly rubs from Cloud, though.

Again the grinder pauses and Seifer pulls back to wipe his brow. Yeah... yeah that's probably enough for now. He could use some food.]

Did you? Great, I'm starving. Have a look, what d'you think?

For Cloud

[silentnarration]

[It's a few days after Brain Injury. Squall has legitimate reason to call out of work, however long that lasts, but he doesn't like staying in his room. At all. So when he's not being watched, he slips out of his room... and wanders over to Cloud's. He hasn't seen Boko in a while okay.

He knocks and when the door opens he just stares at Cloud. His usual cool and detached expression marred by the somewhat dazed look in his eyes.]

I'm here for the bird.

[bravers]

[David hadn't seemed to mind the fact that Boko was around more often while Squall was laid up. Cloud hadn't minded either. On the way back from a particular job, he'd spied a shopfront and made a particular purchase, one of which had been unpacked and set up in short order, and one which Boko ...seemed to be enjoying.

Especially apparent due to the fact that the chicobo hadn't actually emerged from it yet. As Cloud had taken advantage of an unoccupied dorm room (David was out getting groceries or something) to actually rest, while the chicobo occasionally lobbed a ball at him from his place in the pit at the centre of the room, between the two beds. Each ball was caught in the air and gently tossed back, which seemed to evoke a happy noise from Boko, each time.

That was, until the door was knocked on. He gets up, making his way to the visitor - his eyes widening when he sees Squall. And a bandage that might still be on his head. He leaves the door open, taking a few steps into the room.]

You shouldn't be out of bed. You know that, right?

[silentnarration]

[Definitely still has the bandage.]

No. [Wait.] Yes. [Better.]

[Squall takes a few steps into the room and blinks slowly, trying to process the odd addition to the room. Something he's fairly sure shouldn't be there. A ball flies out of the pit, followed a few seconds later by a disappointed kweh when said ball doesn't return.]

Boko?

[The kweh grows excited. A chicobo emerging from the pit with a louder kweh when he finally sees his dad.

Please catch him before he tackles Squall.]

[bravers]

[He's really messed up, huh. Cloud's reduced to staring at the other man in silence as he answers and then catches himself, only his wide eyes really betraying his concern. And yes- a brightly coloured ball soon whizzes past his head, making a quiet sound as it hits the wall of the confined area- and then rolling away harmlessly.

Except wait- the sound of balls crunching against each other makes him move his gaze to the pit. Boko's emerged fully now, scrambling up the back of it to the basketball hoop, his weight forcing it downward. He flaps his wings and-

Oh no.

The chicobo jumps, the hoop functioning as a springboard to boost its jump right toward the brunette. ]

Boko-!

[He intercepts, but the slippery little chocobo scrambles around his arms and launches itself off his shoulder- right at Dad.]

For Seifer - Mid September ish

[silentnarration]

It's been over a week. Thankfully, the worst effects of getting whapped in the head by an oversized sword wore off within a few days. Of course it didn't mean he was completely free of symptoms. He was still irritatingly slow on the uptake sometimes. The confusion and the thoughts he blurt out instead of keeping it inside was also growing increasingly mortifying. Where was an esuna when he needed one? It was bad enough for Squall to want to check himself in to a clinic again. Almost.

The insomnia had returned in full force though. Spurred on by a rumbling stomach, he quietly left his room. There was a perfectly fine kitchen on the first floor, but he went up to the second floor then the fourth. A little disappointed to find the doors to his friends' rooms closed. It was too early to knock so he didn't.

He wandered into the fourth floor's kitchen instead. Might as well grab something here.

[firacrux]

Squall's prolonged recovery has been extremely concerning. In Garden, between Kadowaki's expertise and magic he'd have been back on his feet almost immediately. Healing the slow, natural way, was alarming and sucked. Watching someone else do it was even worse.

That, however, was the furthest thing from his mind at whatever Hyneforsaken hour it was in the wee darkness of the morning, where he could be caught stumbling his way toward the kitchen from the bathroom.

He looked pale, like he'd just been sick, and disturbingly out of it. Didn't even register another person coming into the room while he tried to figure out how to work the electric kettle. The fumbling, awkward movements weren't at all how Seifer usually conducted himself in the kitchen. Or in general for that matter. It almost seemed like he was in a daze.

[silentnarration]

Squall doesn't recommend it. If not for this weird inoculation thing that's going on and the plague memories, he'd have seen a doctor to get it over with. They did a damned good job with his injury last time.

Paranoia is bothersome.

He's surprised into stillness by the person shuffling about inside. The silhouette an all too familiar one but the movements were all wrong. It reminded him of Seifer near the end of the war. Only worse. He hadn't looked this out of it back then.

He walked up to the entryway, watching him carefully. "Seifer?"

[firacrux]

Hence why Seifer wasn't suggesting it, if Squall didn't start getting better soon he might see if Aqua can't do anything for him. She at least has Cure. There were numerous other offers for help as well, they can avoid the creepy hospital for now.

After several attempts and nearly dropping the carafe Seifer has temporarily given up on getting water into the damned thing so he can even make his tea, instead he just leans over the sink taking steadying breaths. He doesn't notice Squall approaching until he speaks up, which has him jumping back, into the counters behind him with a grunt of pain. He shakes his head and tries to scowl toward the source of the voice but it's really more of an intense squint. He can't... quite make him out... the voice though, that's recognizable.

Fuck. This is the downside to public living areas. Back at the village he could have his fumbling bullshit mornings in private. There's no answer forthcoming from Seifer, just him standing there awkwardly while he tries to figure out how to escape.

Rinoa - a week after head injury?

[silentnarration]

Squall is comfortably curled up on his side, head resting on her lap. The bandage still wrapped around his head as he holds up his smartphone in both hands, tapping idly at the screen as he plays some kind of endless runner game. The character in there is running from a robot. The gratifying part is he can use items to attack it and make it fall over comically.

His response time is terrible though and after spending the past half hour dying repeatedly, he finally sets his phone down to turn on his back and stare up at the book Rinoa's reading. He glanced at it earlier but wasn't paying it much mind. Now he finds himself focusing intently on the buff male model on the cover.

He squints.

...

"Is he naked?"

He sounds confused and a little annoyed. Has he been lying under a naked picture this whole time? Granted the model has a leafy brush and his girlfriend strategically positioned to give him some modesty but it's still mortifying now that he's noticed.

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME.

[etherealsage]

Rinoa still has not exactly grown calm since she found out both Squall and Seifer have gotten themselves into trouble. She even told Seifer to keep her informed, but she supposes she cannot make such expectations yet. Regardless, she still finds herself unamused. It's amazing that she's managed to keep it to herself.

...That probably won't last. Eventually she'll explode, she's sure.

A hand in his hair, she gently messes with it while she reads, quite a bit caught up in the story. And... maybe the imagery, too. She's still a girl, after all, and she's not exactly immune to those thoughts, even if that's not exactly a threshold she and Squall have made an attempt to cross. Basically, her inner rule is that she isn't in a hurry.

It'll happen when it happens, right? Not that it stops her from thinking about what it might be like. So when Squall's question interrupts her thoughts, she almost jumps, unable to hide the way she blushes. As if she's been caught doing something wrong.

"E-er, uh. Yeah," she replies as she lowers her page for him to see. "What, you jealous that I'm looking at a naked guy who isn't you?"

[silentnarration]

It wouldn't be such a big problem if the symptoms from his head injury aren't lingering. And it's not any worse than a typical injury he's sustained in a sparring session before. So... aside from not recovering immediately and discovering he'll have trouble sparring with Seifer from now on, he thinks he's mostly fine!

The hand in his hair feels nice though.

Until she jumps. He's scrutinizing her face closely now but his squinting turns into deer-in-headlights at both the page and what she says. His brain just shorts out for a few seconds as color creeps on to his face.

He sulks finally, trying to avoid looking at the page while he stares up at her.

"You've never seen me naked." A pause. "I think." Hold on, he should be refuting the more important part of that sentence. "I'm not jealous." Nailed it.

[etherealsage]

It's a little telling when Squall starts to blush. It isn't something he does often and Rinoa is always rather keen on seeing it when he's willing to let his walls down a mite. In consequence, she doesn't respond immediately. Although it is something to consider. He's right, of course. She hasn't seen him naked. Maybe without a shirt once or twice, which is bound to happen occasionally in their relationship, but...

Well, again. It isn't a bridge they've crossed yet. Just thinking about it makes Rinoa want to darken all the more. And possibly to find someplace to hide? She has to wonder why she feels so bashful about it. Maybe because it's not exactly she's discussed either. While open about her feelings, even she has some subjects that she doesn't want to discuss with just anyone. And while she'd love to get Nida's insight on it, he has already expressed no interest in whatever happens in Rinoa and Squall's private time.

...She wishes Selphie was here, suddenly. At least she'd know how to lighten up the topic and it might be easier to talk about.

"Oh, well," she finally manages to utter out. Rinoa turns her gaze back onto her book. "Then you won't care if I continue reading it." That's how that works, right? She didn't even know he was paying attention. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he just picked the wrong time to look up at what she was doing.