dualislogs | Three Final Fantasy characters walk into a bar

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Three Final Fantasy characters walk into a bar

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.

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Seifer's a pal. The disses on that post was so unnecessary though. Rude.

Normally Seifer would be safe. Squall tends to hide in his room when the insomnia hits, or at least do his best to be alone. His frown deepens along with his concern and he slowly steps forward, one hand held out hesitantly.

When he's close enough, he touches the back of his hand to Seifer's forehead, feeling for a temperature while he looks into his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Did he hit his head too?

They were absolutely unnecessary, they were also a coping mechanism. Insurance for a future altercation, you see. If Squall can be mad at him then he's okay and everything's fine.

Normally the only witness to Seifer's rough mornings was Aqua or Nida. For some reason it was a little more humiliating for Squall to see him like this. Seifer's the strong one, the one who couldn't be bothered or fazed by anything. Yet here he was barely able to fill a tea kettle because his hands wouldn't work or stop shaking.

He does try to back against the counter when Squall approaches, for a brief moment almost looking like a panicked, cornered animal. He stills when Squall touches him, definitely running a fever but that's normal for him. Most days started like this. Some worse than others.

At first he expected an attack, his muddled mind unsure when exactly they were... were they enemies now? Friends? The touch... wasn't violent, so he hesitated. "...Tea." He's trying to make tea, that's right. Tea makes the fog go away. Everything will be okay if he can get some water boiled.

It's sad how much their relationship hinges on their ability to fight one another. They couldn't be weak even though they're just human. Seifer's right about how he's always appeared to Squall though.

The younger gunblader is looking more distressed when Seifer looks panicked. He's seen that look on Nida recently. (How broken are all of them, really?) He doesn't immediately connect Seifer's answer to his present condition. Not for a few more seconds.

"You're... trying to make tea?"

He frowns, slowly removing his hand. He can make tea. That's just water and tea leaves. He gestures with a hand, finger pointing at Seifer.

"Stay."

Then he's turning away to pick up where Seifer left off. It takes a moment of looking around to see what's already completed. He finally gets started on the hot water, filling the kettle and turning it on. That wasn't difficult at all...

"It'll take a minute to boil," he informs instead of demanding what's wrong again. Worry gnawing at his mind.

It's all they've known. Or rather, it's all they can remember. Then again Seifer was combative as a child as well, just not quite to the same degree they were now. How did being a person work again?

Yeah, tea. He thinks he says it, instead he just nods dumbly. That's what he wants, it helps clear his mind and settle his stomach. Peppermint tea, always keeps a stockpile on hand. At the command he makes no effort to move, just slumps back against the counter, wilting in place. Yeah it's... not a good look. But it's too late now he's been caught so he'll just stand there and look sick while Squall takes care of the kettle.

Another wordless nod, Seifer choosing to stare blankly at the teapot as if he could will it to work faster this way. Or maybe he just didn't want to make eye contact. This is humiliating enough.

It's a mystery.

Squall turns and leans against the counter, folding his arms so he doesn't fidget anxiously. He tries not to look at Seifer but he glances over at him every so often anyway.

It's not right for a guy like Seifer to look fragile.

His fingers twitch with the odd desire to move closer, lean against him, protect him until he feels better.

"Did Cloud hit you in the head too?"

Why does water take so long to boil? All he wants is to have a cup of tea damn it.

Seifer's still very carefully looking anywhere but at Squall... although it doesn't work out that well for him. Occasionally his eyes would dart to him, make sure he's still where he left him. Isn't morphing into something else. Is actually there. So far he seems pretty solid.

He hates this.

"...No." Slowly. "This is normal." 'Normal' being relative.

You'd think with their technology, they'd figure out how to boil water faster.

Squall catches his eyes sometimes. It's... awkward, worrying.

He's nodding slowly at the answer before the significance hits him. He lowers his arms, whirls around to gape at Seifer. Normal. This has been happening every morning?

"Since when?" There's an obvious urgency in his voice. What else has he been blind to?

A flinch, gritting his teeth. Should really learn to keep his mouth shut. Too late now, he'd gone and blurted it out.

Again he looks away, scowling at the teapot for daring to take this long. Maybe not every morning. Just... most of them. Most enough to count as every.

"...When do you think?" He mutters irritably. Like Squall would have known. No use in blaming himself for something so carefully hidden.

Shit, shit, shit. He tries to keep that momentary flare of panic down but he's breathing faster and he's already in front of Seifer and grabbing at his shirt again.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Normally, he wouldn't have asked that. Right now he's too alarmed to realize or care. He knows why. It's the same reason Squall would have hidden it from everyone else.

The click of the kettle and the excited rumble of boiling water interrupts them. Squall turns to it. The red light has turned off. He looks back at Seifer with conflicting eyes and reluctantly lets go, shuffling back to get the tea prepared.

Suddenly having Squall on him, hands balled into his shirt earns a startled and alarmed noise from Seifer. Good thing he wasn't in any shape to fight about it, the most he could manage was grabbing Squall's hands in an effort to defend himself.

Pathetic, he knows. He frowns at Squall, the look clearly stating exactly what he was thinking. Why in Hyne's name would he cop to this? Why would anyone? As if he wanted to ever admit his weakness. Definitely not to Squall.

Thankfully saved from having to admit to anything by the burbling kettle he just glanced over at it expectantly. If Squall wanted to help so much he could start there. "Would you?" Maybe he's going to admit it anyway. "Why the hell would I volunteer this? That I'm a weak piece of shit that can't keep my head together?"

Squall is glad he's already only the way over to the kettle when Seifer answers. The feeling of wanting to be reckless, raise a fuss, something is burbling and hard to ignore.

"Is that how you saw me after I hit my head?" It comes out in a harsh and annoyed tone as he dumps the leaves in there. Probably too many leaves but he's pouring the hot water in after. He knows enough to let it steep for a moment, get a small spoon to stir before bringing it over to Seifer and pushing it at Seifer's chest as hard as he can without spilling most of it.

"Here." Sourly.

He folds his arms defensively over his chest. Maybe if he holds on tight enough the fog will go away. Or he'll wake up and this conversation never happened. "This is different." Squall got his head cracked by an 80 pound sword. Not pathetically turned into a puppet.

Hey, hey! Not so hard. Also... he was supposed to use the steeping basket but Seifer decides against complaining. Just... tries to take the cup without dropping it. Look he's not exactly very functional right now go easy on him.

"Not really," he grouses but he softens when he sees how much trouble Seifer is having. He stays close, letting go of the cup once he's sure Seifer won't drop it.

"... You're not weak." He said it before. Seifer's the strongest guy he knows.

A whole lot of it. With two hands he can just about stay stable enough to hold onto the mug though. Of course he does frown at the mass of leaves floating on top. Tries to sip through them anyway, then just makes a face. Sigh. "...S'posed to use the strainer." He mutters glumly. Honestly he knows he doesn't have the motor skills right now to fix it himself. He'll just deal.

"Don't lie to me." He snaps. Look at him? Look at what a pathetic mess he is right now and tell him that isn't weakness.

Strainer? He whips his head back to the countertop. Oh. Right. He knew that was there for a reason. Oops.

He folds his arms.

"I'm not lying." Don't be prickly, Seifer.

Yes that little round basket thing with the chain? Yup, that's what that was for. Squall won't help him? Alright guess he's drinking leaves. It's too hot still for him to really gulp it down so right now he's just going to breathe it and look especially pathetic.

He hates this.

"I don't need your pity either. I know what I am." Weak, pathetic, worthless. It's what she'd said to him so many times, it had to be true. And Squall started it with being prickly Seifer just wanted his tea damn it.

Clearly he can't do anything about it if the leaves are already in there!!

Hyne, it really is worrying seeing Seifer like this.

"You thought I hated you too so you're not the best judge of that," he points out. His tone softens a fraction. "Is the tea going to help?" What else does he need?

Clearly. Seifer will just have to help himself. He moves away from Squall so he can carefully set his cup down and try to scoop the floating leaves out into the sink. It's hard to drink crispy leaf-filled tea.

"Yeah, well, you get used to it. I did put a hole in your face." Everyone hated him. Everyone but Raijin and Fujin, why wouldn't Squall be the same? It's not like he tried very hard to be likable at Garden, of course, because fuck them. Simpering and sucking up wasn't his way. "Helps the nausea." The rest just takes some time. "It'll wear off."

It's only when Seifer moves to try to get rid of the leaves that Squall realizes what he wanted. He moves next to him and wordlessly reaches to take the cup and spoon to help scoop leaves into the sink.

"I returned the favor," Squall frowns. He can't speak for everyone else but he knows how he feels. "I didn't like anyone back then but..." He focuses on what he's doing, face coloring at what he's leaving unsaid. "Have you tried looking for a cure?"

There are too many leaves to sip around, he needs them gone. At least, most gone... Without argument he steps aside to let Squall help. His hands are more steady right now Seifer will just end up dumping his tea all over and then it'll be an even greater disaster.

That commend did earn a slight huff of amusement, maybe even a little fond smirk. "Yeah you did," What? He likes the scar. He thought it was fun. Yeah... Squall didn't, Seifer only liked his posse, it wasn't for want of trying. Not initially. As time went on it became more and more apparent that no matter how hard he worked he'd never earn the recognition he wanted. So of course he became more bitter and jaded. And mean. Maybe it didn't help his situation any, at least it made him feel justified. His own quiet rebellion.

As for Squall's question he just shakes his head. "Like there'd even be one." This is just what he's going to have to live with.

That smirk just gets a raised eyebrow. What's so nice about a scar? It was a literal headache that day. He rubs at the edge of his own absently and shrugs. Continues to scoop out the last of the bigger leaves. There are still some swirling around in there but they're too small to easily catch. He holds the cup up and holds it out to Seifer like a normal person this time.

"Did you ask?" He can't imagine it's an easy fix but there has to be a way to make it more tolerable.

Sure it hurt, but earning it was pretty fun. No one else could hope to keep up the way they did. No one else got how much the kind of rivalry they had meant to them. That's much better, Seifer takes the tea with a grateful nod. A few stray leaves he can deal with, just not the whole thing filled with them. Thanks Squall. Maybe he'll go try to find somewhere to curl up with his tea now.

"Who the hell am I gonna ask?"

Squall agrees with that much. An unintentional proof of their rivalry. A mark of things before it changed.

"The network? Like you did when I got hurt." Which he still hasn't given Seifer enough sass for. Existing brain damage, really?

Exactly. Now where did the living area go? Oh good, it's not far. Sluggishly, cradling his mug in two hands, Seifer aims to make his way toward a couch or cushy chair where he can curl up and be miserable sitting down.

"Ain't exactly the same as a concussion." Plenty of people knew how to deal with concussions. He doubted anyone knew how to deal with persistent illness and hallucinations. The existing brain damage was a hilarious joke. He insists.

Ugh. Still sucks to see Seifer like this. He's tagging alongside, not quite hovering but not leaving him alone either. He sits next to him after, eyeing him.

"That's why we should ask." Some things are beyond them, even if they want to handle it themselves. "What happens when you're like this?"

Digging for info, don't mind him.

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