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.

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[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.]

[silentnarration]

[Squall is attacking at full strength. Slamming into a slab of solid steel is more jarring than he anticipated, the vibrations ramping down to the hilt that he has to tighten his grip and also take a step back to avoid Cloud taking a swing at Seifer.

He swings his gunblade one-handed to shake off the residual shock. Just in time to see Cloud trying to step around Seifer's attack. If he's quick, he can get in a jab in his side. He's moving as he makes the decision, prototype gunblade held near horizontal for a forward stab.]