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

[silentnarration]

[There's another sigh at being adjusted. It's strange. Everything about how he's been acting since he got here is strange. He changed during the war to defeat Ultimecia, he's aware of that much, but being in Dualis has given him more time than ever to pay attention to these changes.

A few months, maybe even weeks ago, he wouldn't be resting his head in a friend's lap, no matter how injured or sickly he felt.]

I promised to take care of them. They'll have a place in Garden if they decide to come back.

[They're good people. Cared about Seifer more than anyone else. He turns his head again, ruining Cloud's careful positioning to stare at the blond, eyes wide in a way that makes him look his age. Too young.]

You're a soldier too, aren't you?

[bravers]

[Better? Better. Except he's moved again, so it must not have been better. He keeps his eyes downward, watching Boko's eyes slowly close- and watching his face nuzzle against Cloud's chest before the little chocobo's chest starts moving deeply in and out.]

Good of you. If they decide to go back. Telling them that he's gone to another world'll be hard for 'em to hear.

[Hopefully they'd believe him. But he doubts it, somehow.]

...I was one. It's been a long time since.

[silentnarration]

[He makes a half-roll of his shoulder in a shrug.]

We compressed time and time traveled. It won't be hard to believe.

[He's settling back in Cloud's lap, resting again.]

Did you ever leave that part of you behind?

[bravers]

[When you put it like that Squall... yeah. It shouldn't. So he cedes that point with a small sound of affirmation- looking down when his lap when it's claimed again, leaning back on his arms, splayed behind his back.

It's a difficult question. Parts of it couldn't be just discarded. Nibelheim, much less what'd been done to him. He'd carry it the rest of his life. But...]

Yeah. I don't want to be anything like the way I was back then.

[silentnarration]

[Squall shuts his eyes slowly.]

Yeah... I guess I feel the same way. Even though I have to be a soldier for a while yet.

[But shedding the past. He could do that. Despite his earlier protests to the contrary, he's growing tired again and shutting his eyes this long is possibly a bad idea as he finds himself starting to drift.]