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sempiternals2019-11-09 12:11 am
pinwheels) wrote in sempiternals2019-11-09 12:11 am
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Time passed, and the world changed | @silentnarration
After their defeat of Ultimecia, the students of Balamb Garden and their comrades were hailed as heroes. Their world returned to normal, the people rejoiced, and things settled into a relative kind of peace. For a while, they even stayed that way. But as time passed, the world changed again. People on the streets looked at her with doubt, shadows of suspicion clouding their gazes. She wasn't a SeeD like the others, she was a witch. Rinoa was still learning the extent of her magic, but she didn't need it to know what they thought of her. She was different, she was wrong. She was something to be feared.
It didn't help that Squall and the others were so busy working to repair diplomatic relationships in the aftermath of the war. They all had responsibilities to manage, and when she wasn't training with Edea, Rinoa started to feel on the cusp once again. Their world was so big, and sometimes she felt like she had no real place in it. Apart, of course, from her places as the witch, or the daughter of president-elect Caraway.
Neither is something that really wins her much favor in the eyes of the public.
When the battle ended, Cid offered Rinoa and Irvine both honorary titles as SeeDs. He accepted; she did not. It was a matter of pride for Rinoa, a stubborn mental block; if she was going to have yet another title, it was going to be a title she earns, one she can wear with pride. Plus, she didn't want people saying she was given a free ride to the top due to her relationship with the Commander. And so, she convinced the former Headmaster to allow her to enroll as a cadet, a student of Balamb Garden.
The only problem: she isn't a soldier, not really. Rinoa has always had her own way of doing things, and it isn't easy for her to fall in line and salute. Not to mention that, having seen what Guardian Forces had done to the memories of her friends, she refused from the start to utilize them, preferring to rely instead on her natural - but new, and not always perfect - aptitude for magic. She is a force to be reckoned with during training exercises, but never for the right reasons.
Her instructors are patient with her, understanding, but none of that matters on days when the Commander comes down to observe the cadets in action. Days like today. And of course, it is just her luck that the man in question happens to emerge onto the field at the very moment she lands back on the ground, her wings - a telltale sign of her magic use - folding back into the aether.
Whoops...
Suddenly anxious, Rinoa smooths down her hair, her uniform's yellow tie, her skirt, steadying her weapon on her arm as if that will somehow trick him into thinking it was responsible for the blasts of fire and ice that left her opponent dazed and a little singed. And then, awkward and shaky, she joins the rest of the cadets as they greet Squall with a salute.
It didn't help that Squall and the others were so busy working to repair diplomatic relationships in the aftermath of the war. They all had responsibilities to manage, and when she wasn't training with Edea, Rinoa started to feel on the cusp once again. Their world was so big, and sometimes she felt like she had no real place in it. Apart, of course, from her places as the witch, or the daughter of president-elect Caraway.
Neither is something that really wins her much favor in the eyes of the public.
When the battle ended, Cid offered Rinoa and Irvine both honorary titles as SeeDs. He accepted; she did not. It was a matter of pride for Rinoa, a stubborn mental block; if she was going to have yet another title, it was going to be a title she earns, one she can wear with pride. Plus, she didn't want people saying she was given a free ride to the top due to her relationship with the Commander. And so, she convinced the former Headmaster to allow her to enroll as a cadet, a student of Balamb Garden.
The only problem: she isn't a soldier, not really. Rinoa has always had her own way of doing things, and it isn't easy for her to fall in line and salute. Not to mention that, having seen what Guardian Forces had done to the memories of her friends, she refused from the start to utilize them, preferring to rely instead on her natural - but new, and not always perfect - aptitude for magic. She is a force to be reckoned with during training exercises, but never for the right reasons.
Her instructors are patient with her, understanding, but none of that matters on days when the Commander comes down to observe the cadets in action. Days like today. And of course, it is just her luck that the man in question happens to emerge onto the field at the very moment she lands back on the ground, her wings - a telltale sign of her magic use - folding back into the aether.
Whoops...
Suddenly anxious, Rinoa smooths down her hair, her uniform's yellow tie, her skirt, steadying her weapon on her arm as if that will somehow trick him into thinking it was responsible for the blasts of fire and ice that left her opponent dazed and a little singed. And then, awkward and shaky, she joins the rest of the cadets as they greet Squall with a salute.
no subject
"I know you will. But..."
Rinoa closes her eyes, leaning a little closer into him.
"I wanna help, too. What can I do?"
no subject
He can't help but smile at her reply. Of course Rinoa wants to do something. That's what caused them to butt heads to begin with. He's silent as he considers their options.
"Come with me to Esthar."
If something's going to be revealed about sorceresses, it's only right that Rinoa gets to be there to say her piece.
no subject
And so Rinoa nods, her fingers pressing between his.
"Okay. We'll go to Esthar, and figure it out. Together. Right?"
no subject
"I won't let them take you away, Rinoa." Then, quieter. "So just stay close to me."
He remembers her being so excited when he said those words again at the orphanage, even though he doesn't remember the first time he said it to her. He's no where near the romantic boyfriend on the best of days but he's earnest with his attempts sometimes.