Midnight Strikes {Plot}

[Rinoa Heartilly]

Rinoa strolled along through Balamb Garden, a small smile on her face and a slight bounce in her step. It had been a while since she and the others had defeated Ultimecia and brought some form of peace to their world. Though, Rinoa had dealt with some trouble afterwards, as she had retained some of the sorceress powers from when she had been possessed, herself. The people hadn’t been very happy with that fact and as thus, she had to keep herself away from any civilians. This led to holding herself up in Balamb Garden. Not that that she minded that. Squall, and her friends were here, and their support was what kept her from falling into some sort of a depression. Though, doing such as that was a feat in and of itself for someone like Rinoa. But, it was still completely possible.

Even after all of this time, Rinoa could still feel the taint of Ultimecia in her mind, and even now it sent shivers down in spine whenever she thought about it, or could still feel the remainder of the power inside of her. It wasn’t a good feeling. It certainly wasn’t something that she liked to be reminded of her, whether it be unintentionally done by her, or by someone mentioning it by accident. But, that was something else that was to be expected of her. After all, being possessed by a time-warping sorceress wasn’t exactly on the top of her list of things she had ever wanted to do in her lifetime. Actually, she was sure that wasn’t something that anybody had their list. She was really sure about that one.

But, there was one thing about this whole sorceress power that she was completely worried about. Something she hadn’t told anybody else about since it had started. She would find herself just randomly blacking out. Nothing was wrong with her when they happened. She didn’t feel sick or get a headache. She just would suddenly feel tired, and then everything would just go black. When she woke up, she was in a completely different location, and the time had passed quite significantly. Luckily, she had been able to keep it a secret from all of the others, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to for quite much longer. She was sure Squall would find out sooner or later with the way he was, but he was busy doing headmaster-y things all of the time, so Rinoa wasn’t sure when he and the others would find out, but they would find out soon enough. But, these blackouts worried her greatly. She didn’t know what was causing them, and she was obviously in no way capable of controlling them. As a matter of fact, they seemed to just happen, like they had a mind of their own. Her smile fell into a quizzical look, as she stopped randomly in the path. It was definitely weird. But, it made her wonder. What had she been doing during those blackouts? Another shiver ran down her spine. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

~~~

Words: 526
Muse: Good
Muse: Hope this is alright to start off with. ^^

[Morgan Freeman]

By the looks of it, running a security check on the Garden would usually be one of the most mundane, simple tasks Squall would need to perform as a headmaster. This month's security check, though, was anything but mundane. "The problem with the gate needs to be fixed before the end of the week," Squall was informing one of the school's technicians, unfortunately using his clipboard to point like he'd been trying to avoid. But with half of the school's front gate basically hanging off the hinges without a security lock on it, a little physical expression wouldn't hurt, least of all with the disappearances that were all over the news lately. The disappearances that were the reason Squall was being so hands-on with the security check this time around, and why he'd asked Selphie to bring along her expertise...he would always have a hard time associating her with the word expertise...to make sure he got it all right. When it came to the disappearances affecting the Garden, especially with them taking place on its front steps in the town of Balamb, Squall didn't plan on taking any chances. Having one of his students - though he hated to call them that - show up on the nightly news in a few weeks in a water drain wasn't something he was going to allow to happen simply because the place had started getting sloppy in this time of peace. Not only was Squall making sure everything security-related from the past was intact, but he was also trying to amp up the security specifically to ensure that students were alone for as short of a time as possible. No one was really happy when changes needed to be made, and Squall had heard plenty of complaints even from the few hours he and Selphie had been working. He'd managed to brush them all off so far, though, without getting annoyed.

He'd left Selphie only a couple of minutes before so he could give some direction on the gate, but once the technician assured him the fix would be done as soon as they had a single, elusive part they needed, Squall turned back to the grounds to look for her. Out of his sight already. He reached back and rubbed at the back of his head. If everyone could move as fast as Selphie, without the tendency to become overly excited, the world would be a much more efficient place. Letting his arms drop loosely to his sides, he peered down at his clipboard and tried to determine what she'd gone to do. Yeah, a piece of paper was really going to govern what Selphie Tilmitt did with her time. Taking one last look around the grounds to make sure he didn't notice her highly-obvious form against the green, gray and white backdrop, Squall relented and figured he would be best moving on to the next thing he needed to attend to, anyway. Which was, as he learned when he flipped up a piece off paper and tore it off, crumpling it in his hand, making sure none of the plants were starting to overgrow too much. It hadn't been his idea, instead Xu's, that the plants could be obscuring visibility. Visibility was a very good thing, SeeDs would learn...especially when people were already disappearing without the help of an especially wild tree or bush. Starting off walking, Squall took a shot at a nearby trashcan with his crumpled paper. If he'd been planning basketball, it would have earned him two points, but Squall didn't pay any attention to whether he made it or not, when his eyes were brought up towards a nearby form, though not the one he'd been purposefully searching for.

A smile worked its way to the corner of Squall's eyes even after the long day, as he stepped up towards the side of the young woman, her face still obscured by brunette hair. To get her attention, he put a hand against her elbow. "Rinoa," he greeted, before tucking his clipboard under his arm. She seemed to be the eye of the storm that this hectic day had created. Good. He needed a little peace for a few minutes...

Words - 757
Muse - Excellent!
Outfit - Usual
Notes - Selphie then Zell then we start over? [/size]

[Selphie Tilmitt]

And why did the screen decide not to work just a few minutes before the scanning would be complete? “UUUGH!”, came the over expressive groan, before she ‘thwacked’ the little machine that she held in her hands. No response to the screen, frozen at ninety eight percent done. It had been that way…for three entire minutes. THREE MINUTES of time where she was doing nothing but stare at a little hand held screen. With each passing second, Selphie got more and more agitated, shifting around, glancing from the hand held scanner, and then over at what she was scanning. The security cameras had to be in good shape! And that was where she came in. Squall had gone to check out the gate situation, and she had gone on her merry way to fix this all up like it was supposed to be. She’d seen it as one of the things to do on his clipboard for the list of things they needed to do.

So hitting the scanner hadn’t worked. Groaning, Selphie slapped her forehead with her hand, then set the scanner back down. “Ohhhhhhhhh,” she expressed in frustration, before she felt a hand on her arm. Glancing around, Selphie saw Nida there, looking at her questioningly. “Selphie? How is this going?”, he asked, sweeping his hand by the scanner. “Oh, well it had been going good! But noooow-…you wouldn’t happen to have a screwdriver on you, huh? That’d be super – mega – fantastical!”, she chirped out, grinning up at him. Selphie watched as he thought about it for a moment, then he snapped his fingers. “We have a kit over in the other room, let me get it for you.” Grinning, Selphie nodded furiously. “That’d be great! Thanks Nida!”

A moment later she had the kit in her hands. “Ohhh perfect!”, she exclaimed, opening the kit and taking out what she needed. Flipping open her scanner, Selphie went to work and unscrewed the back. Tossing the screwdriver back to Nida, Selphie’s hands flew here and there, before she brought out a few more tools. Wiggling one wire back into place, she did this and that before turning it back right side up. “Scanning 100% complete” flashed across the screen. “Yeaa – haw!”, came her joyful whoop, before she screwed the bottom back on. Throwing all of her things back in the pack, Selphie glanced back at the machine. It told her the information she needed to continue.

Setting the little machine down on the side, Selphie dove into the rolling chair and rolled a little haphazardly over toward the computers on the other side. Skidding to a stop, Selphie peered at the computer and tapped the buttons that she needed to boot it up. Once she got in, Selphie went to the administration. It asked for a password, but she just hacked in, scanning here and there. “Selphie do you need a-…oh, Squall must have given it to you.” Selphie turned her head toward Nida, before grinning at him. “Well I got in anyway!” Running a few programs, Selphie completely rewired the system to be able to do what was needed. The student that had been found-…Selphie didn’t want to think about it, because though she hadn’t known them extremely well, but she had met the boy, and that gnawed at her mind. The image of him in the di-…’No!’ she told herself, closing her eyes and her mind to the image. Selphie had seen plenty of death, but it was always worse when it was one of your own.

After rewiring the security to pick up more, Selphie remembered that Squall had wanted to reprogram the outside cameras for night vision. That was smart, since not a ton could be seen during the night, but that would take a lot of work if they wanted all the cameras reprogrammed.

Just to make sure that the placement was the best for the cameras, Selphie went to play back some of the security footage for Garden. Clicking on the link, she leaned forward and started to watch them. Nothing really much, kids running to class, teachers, Cid and Matron walking arm in arm. Zell T-boarding and being chased down to be disciplined – which made her laugh – and then-…”Wooah!”, she exclaimed, quickly tapping on the rewind button. What had that little clip been? She had been fastforwarding…but-

“Rinoa?” Selphie got her face close to the screen, peering at the fuzzy image. Why had the camera picked then to be fuzzy and dark? All she saw though, was a clip of Rinoa lying on the ground, before she sat up and groggily stood up, stumbling a little bit before she got her balance. Why…had Rinoa been lying in the training room? Blinking, Selphie sat back in the chair, confused at what she had just seen. “Well…she must…have just, been napping?”, she asked herself. Pausing the screen, she peered at it, before the voice behind her startled the poor young girl. “Selphie how is it going-“ Jumping, Selphie backed out of the footage as quickly as she could. For some reason, she didn’t want Nida, or anyone else for that matter, seeing what she had. It didn’t seem…something was strange, and Selphie wanted to talk to Rinoa-…actually, her gut instinct was telling her to mention it to Squall first. Even if it turned out to be nothing…if Rinoa had passed out – and it really looked like she had – Selphie was worried for her. Maybe she’d just been training and some monster had sapped her low on her health…yeah…

“Uh..uh..It’s going great Nida! In fact, I’m done for now! Gotta go report back to the big guy, ya know?” Picking up her things, Selphie fled as quickly as she could. Something…was weird about that little clip. But what was it?! She had to find Squall. But maybe it was nothing…maybe… Sprinting out toward the gate, Selphie noticed the two very-…oh well, maybe she shouldn’t mention it to Rinoa quite yet-…or either of them. She didn’t know, but she bounced up toward the two people. “Booyaka Rinoa! Squally, I got the computers rewired for us, but I still need to modify the cameras to include night vision. Maybe I should get someone else to help, since there’s so many,” she mentioned, still wondering if she should make a big deal about the clip.

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Words:; 1327
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Squall, Rinoa, Zell and whoever else!
Outfit:; Click!
Location:; You know the spot!
Notes:; ---
Listening To:; Body Movin' - Beastie Boys

[angel5]

What a long and hot day... Quistis thought to herself while closing her spell book and placing it back into her purse. It was a hot day back in Balamb, air conditioners were having issues and for some reason warm air was coming from the ducts. Her attire was almost wet and her hair was a complete mess, she even had to take her coat off to feel that some freshening air was caressing her skin. For her bad luck, the troupies were all overexcited about Quistis taking her clothes away. Now that class was dismissed and the sun started to set, she felt that the evening breeze was more comfortable. The professor piled up her paperwork and walked away towards her office where the air conditioner from the console was so cold that even Shiva could live over her quarters.

Quistis sighed after landing those heavy books on top of her desk, she even sat down in exhaustiveness on the visitor's chair just below the air conditioner. She laid back with her eyes closed, letting her body ease after the long... very long day. Hello! voiced a young lad while carefully knocking the glass on the side of her door. Quistis turned to see one of her most brilliant students standing to her side with a smile beaming on her face. May I help you? Quistis replied while standing and taking her seat behind the desk. The student closed the door and shyly replied to her question. "I may need a few tips for the Field Exam this semester. I'm quite not confident enough... I.. I'm sorry

Quistis giggled and smiled, not because she was making fun of her, just because there was a lot of herself in this young one. According to her closest friends, Quists lacked confidence in herself, specially when it came to making important desicions, this however, changed a lot with Zell's criticism and Selphie's constant support. This young one shared most of Quistis characteristics when she was her age, however, she won't let her behave wrong because of her hesitation. Quistis nodded and started to write down a note. "Let us meet tomorrow at 9:00 hours back in the training room. This is a permission to enter."

Confused, the student left with the note while Quistis lead her to the door and decided to go for a walk. Nearing the gates, she felt something was unease. The air was dense and her skin shivered coldly. The professor looked around to notice Selphie, Squall and Rinoa chatting... maybe there is something going on. Been quite a long time since we were able to stand all together in the same place, yet we miss Zell. I overheard you need some help Selphie Quistis asked worried about the tension, still, she was happy that she was able to stand before her friends once again after the cataclysmic events by the sorceress.

~~~~~~~~
Word: 519
Next: FFVIII gang
Muse: Like a sir
Note: IM kawabonga!

[dincht]

People around here just didn’t know how to lighten up or have a bit of fun!

Zell made his way through the hallways fairly quickly, ducking his head slightly as his T-Board was tucked under his arm. He was like a football player going for a very stealthy touchdown, and if any of the teachers or instructors saw him…automatic foul. Keeping between a few people and rounding corners carefully, he made his way through the building fairly easily, no one was there to stop him and yell at him for even CARRYING his t-board around. People needed to get that large stick up their butts out and just enjoy life a little bit more than they were these days. Rounding one last corner, Zell exhaled a deep breath and stood up to his full…short height, pressing his back against the wall and feeling a wave of success wash over him. He’d nearly made it to the exit, no one was going to stop him from getting outside with this thing and have a good time! Maybe, since his luck was going so well already, there would actually be hotdogs in the cafeteria today. It all sounded too good to be true, but maybe this lucky streak would continue?

“Zell Dincht!”

Then again…maybe not.

With a flinch, nearly giving off that ‘deer in headlights’ look, Zell moved his bright blue eyes to see one of the other instructors of the building looking at him with a deadly look on her face, hands on her hips and a frown carved into her face. With a heavy groan and sigh escaping his lips, he wanted to flail around and run, but he was quickly stopped from his grumbling. “You know your aren’t allowed to have that on school grounds! Keep it in your room or toss it out! We don’t need more accidents around here!” The instructor scolded him, waggling a finger at him as well as if he were five years old again. With an unamused and very disgruntled look on his face, Zell tightened his arm around his t-board, narrowing his eyes some as he started to walk away briskly, his shoulder being caught by the hand of the instructor. “Don’t make me assign you a detention, Mr. Dincht.” Zell had jinxed it! Luck certainly wasn’t on his side. With a scowl on his lips, he forced a bitter smile onto his face, as well as a bitter-sweet tone. “Sorry, Ma’am. I’ll go put it away, I don’t know what I was thinking, having fun and all. It won’t happen again.” He grumbled, moving along as if he were going to go back to his dorm. Ha! No way that was going to happen!

After having escaped the instructor, Zell saw the door, it was only a few feet away! He ran the last few feet and threw himself out the doors and onto his T-board. Immediately he heard a few protesting comments, but nothing too major like the teacher before who had thought she was apparently his mother. With a grin of success on his face once more, Zell moved carefully outside the school, moving and making sure to keep out of people’s way, it was nice! The wind in his face, but that’s when his eyes caught sight of a gathering. What? Quistis, Selphie, Squall and Rinoa? Who was throwing a party and didn’t invite Zell? Picking up his pace and catching what Quistis had said about him not being here, Zell hopped off his board with ease, tipping it at the end so it would be caught in his arms as he bent his knees, hitting the ground and remaining stable, so…maybe luck hadn’t abandoned him completely today.

Walking up to the group with t-board tucked under his arm once more, he put a grin on his face, an optimistic tone in his voice as well. “Did you miss me or something Quisty?” a name he’d picked up from Selphie, it just…kind of stuck when you were around her so much. “Who decided to call for a pal-meeting and forgot to invite poor ol’ Zell? You all know nothing’s fun without me, right?” he asked raising an eyebrow, as if he were completely dead serious, looking at each of their faces before cracking a smile. “What’s up?” he asked, wanting to be involved with whatever it was, it’d been a long time since everyone could be together like this.

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Words:[/color] 866
Muse:[/color] Good!
Tagged:[/color] All dem people!
Wearing:[/color] His usual
Listening To:[/color] Stuffs!
Notes:[/color] This is just...word vomit in post form

[Rinoa Heartilly]

This blackout thing was really stumping Rinoa. Usually, when someone was having blackouts it was in a book, or a TV show because it made for a great plot device, but she had never thought that it would happen in real life. Or better yet, to her. Ok, yeah, she knew, and figured, that some weird stuff would happen to her since she had been possessed by Ultimecia and thus had sorceress powers, but blackouts? Now it was just getting freaky. She knew she needed to tell someone about what was going on. There was always the possibility of it getting worse, happening so frequently that it would get to the point where she would just pass out all the time, never knowing where she would end up. Now that was a scary thought.

A name broke her out of reverie. Her name, actually, and she turned to see who exactly it was that was calling her. A wide smile broke out across her face as she pivoted on her heel to face him, placing her hands behind her back and looking up at him as he placed his clipboard underneath his arm and stood in front of her. She had been right about him doing his headmaster duties, though he always seemed to be doing them. She guessed that was what it was like being the headmaster of an entire Garden. No time for playing or fun. What a bummer. “Hey, Squall! I see you’re doing your work...again,” she added as her smile turned into a grin, “how is your day going besides work?” She would have said more, but Selphie chose that moment to bounce up being her usual self. Pulling her hands out from behind her back, Rinoa waved to her friend. “Hi Selphie.”

She continued to smile and stand as she listened to Selphie talk to Squall about something to do with the video cameras. A thought popped into her head and was gone just as quickly as it came. It had stayed long enough for her to realize something but she had forgotten about it as soon as it had left as well. She bit her lip, slightly frustrated but figured that she would try to remember about it later. It couldn’t have been too important for her to forget it so quickly. Glancing over Selphie’s shoulder, Rinoa easily saw Quistis headed for them ,and she stood up slightly on her toes, her arm raised and waving. “Quistis!” She had seen the taller woman headed for them, but figured it would be best just to make sure. Though who could miss this trio, with Selphie in her yellow outfit, and Rinoa in her own blue duster? It was hard not too.

She couldn’t help but laugh at Quistis’ statement since it was all quite too true, and nodded in affirmation. All of them just standing there, but missing the other rambunctious SeeD. Though, knowing Zell, he would pop up at any moment. He was quirky like that. And, she turned out to be right on the money. Zell did indeed pop up, on his board no less, and blamed them for not inviting him to the little impromptu meet-up. Yup, that was Zell. “Don’t worry, Zell. Just make sure you’re the first one to show up next time and hope that everyone shows up one right after the other,” she said, grinning.

Where was everybody coming from? As soon as Squall had walked up to her it just seemed to become some sort of weird suddenly-showing-up conga line, coming one right after the other. But, Rinoa didn’t mind. With everything that had happened and then they all still had their jobs to fulfill it was getting hard for even just a random two of them to get together and just spend some time as friends. Now that she thought about it, and knowing all of this, maybe it would be better to not say a word about having these blackouts every once and a while. They had already worried over her enough. She didn’t want them to continue doing as such. She could take care of herself, and they all needed some peace and quiet. At least for right now.

~~~

Words: 715
Muse: Great!
Muse: Why, yes. I did break the fourth-wall in the second sentence. I’m quite proud of myself.

[Morgan Freeman]

After all this business, it was good to see Rinoa's smile pop up in the middle of it all. Squall matched it in his own meager way, but his expression faltered a little when she asked if it was work that had him occupied again. It was always work lately...Squall thought he could get things back in order to run right again and then sit back a little and let things run themselves. He should have expected that wouldn't be the case. Cid had been smart to dump the job on Squall. Otherwise, he would have had no time to make up for the part of his life with Matron that both of them had lost. It was times like these, those too few minutes he got to see Rinoa on the average day, that he wished he didn't have this job at all. "Yeah...", he finally relented, glancing down at his clipboard again, before she asked about his day. His eyes lifted again. "Better now." Andwasn't it the truth...

The few seconds of serenity wouldn't last all too long, though. Squall's eyes were drawn to the ever-heavy footsteps of Selphie as she approached, ready and raring to report her most recent business. Yep, the computers...he would have hoped that was what she'd been doing, because he wouldn't have looked forward to trying. He was decent with them; she was far better. He wondered how she'd had the patience to sit down and figure computers out some day in the past. It'd seem like she'd rather toss one out a window than spend time pressing on keys. He wondered how she'd become a SeeD sometimes, too...Squall never doubted her anymore, but she was still sort of a walking irony.

After giving Rinoa a look that he hoped clearly indicated we can talk after I'm done, Squall parted his lips to respond to Selphie before Quistis' arrival interrupted him. Huh. She was right, as usual. Since when had they all four been within five feet of each other for any period over the past weeks? Squall could think of no more than two times, and one of those had just been to greet some diplomats who were visiting. Squall glanced between the trio of females. "Busiest day we've had all week and it's the only time we can find to gather up," he stated, shaking his head. "I guess that's life lately..."

To make the situation even more rare, Zell appeared, leaving Squall to glare at the t-board for a few seconds before he decided he didn't actually care if Zell was riding around on it. It was the snooty instructors in his ears saying he should enforce rules that didn't actually matter that were compelling him to think his friend's t-boarding was a bad thing. Squall supposed that was one place he and Seifer had always agreed. Sometimes, rules were just there for the sake of rules. They didn't actually make any difference. Squall huffed a little in amusement between the carrying-on the company made. Things didn't really change all that much, even with all of them - or the SeeDs, at least - busy with their own things.

It was a shame the day couldn't be spend like this, yeah, but they all knew that well enough. "You're just in time to get to work," he directed at Zell, pushing his clipboard towards the blond. "I'll help Selphie with the cameras. If you can stop t-boarding around long enough, getting something on that list done would help us all get done faster." That wouldn't be quite enough incentive. "If we finish up...we'll eat." And if even that wasn't enough incentive, Squall would add that they could go for hot dogs. That would get Zell moving. He flashed a subtle look at Rinoa to reinforce what he was doing.

Words - 718
Muse - Great!
Notes - Not a great one, but the good stuff will happen soon. [/size]

[Selphie Tilmitt]

“Heya!”, she greeted Rinoa again cheerfully. Trying to not make a big deal out of it, Selphie tried looking Rinoa up and down, as if to see if there was any traces of… Well, what exactly was she looking for? Selphie scanned her once more before she realized that she really didn’t have anything to be looking for. Rinoa looked just as fit as ever. Besides, if she had just been napping…in…the training room, then she wouldn’t be looking exhausted or anything right now. And despite wanting so badly to blurt out what she had seen, Selphie exercised restraint and didn’t speak, just wanting to wait until she could have Squall alone. For some reason, this seemed like something she only wanted him to know about at first. Why she felt that way, she might never understand. Some gut instinct of hers though told her to keep quiet, and so she tried very hard not to. Selphie was still waiting for Squall’s response when Quistis walked up. Well talk about old times! “Hellooo Quisty!”

Some help? Well yeah, she needed some help if she wanted to reprogram the cameras that were hanging around the Garden. Nodding eagerly, Selphie decided she wouldn’t mind having Quisty helping her around with the cameras, but…she had kind of wanted to be working with Squall so that she could express her concern over Rinoa. Oh well! It’d have to wait until later, or something. “Yeah! I need some help reprogramming the cameras, but I guess it’s up to Squall as to who goes with who! He is the big boss man,” she ended with a grin over at the older woman.

It didn’t seem to take long for Zell to show up either. Almost instantly her worries were forgotten when he approached with that big cheerful grin and T-board. The one that he had promised to teach her. “Hey Zelly!”, came out happily, before she pointed to the T-board. “You were gonna teach me to ride that one of these days, remeeember?!” A moment after Selphie remembered who they were hanging around at the moment. Squall had to be all mature and just….just…get people in trouble now, didn’t he? That’s what headmasters did in their spare time, wasn’t it? Well that would be lame, but she also supposed she shouldn’t talk too loud about T-boards, since they were basically banned in the school. So instead she hurried onto another topic, answering Zell’s question about what was up. “We’re just tightening up security around here! You wanna help?!” The more help the better, and also, the more fun help the better too.

But it was time to get down to business. To defeat the Huns. Selphie went all pretend paying attention when Squall mentioned who was going to do what. Oh! She was going to work with Squall?! That got her mind off of learning how to T-board and back on that clip she had saw. Selphie hoped that no one else tagged along, because even though they were her bestest friends, she wasn’t sure what would happen if they all saw this clip. Then again, she wasn’t sure what Squall would say either, but she wanted to show him first. In any decision, she would probably ask Squall about it first, simply because other than Sis, he had always been the ‘older mature one’ of the group. So he would probably have the best things to say about what to do. Tugging on Squall’s arm, she bounced once or twice before settling down a little bit. Now that she had the opportunity to work with him, then she couldn’t wait to spill her guts. “Squally, I need you to check up on the computers first for a minute, okay?” Hoping that didn’t sound suspicious, Selphie blabbered on. “I mean, just to check and make sure that I did it right!” That had to sound a bit less suspicious…right? In her mind, yes!

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Words:; 902
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Zell, Squall, Rinoa, Quisty
Outfit:; That one I linked!
Location:; That farmhouse...there
Notes:; I do not like this post
Listening To:; Tonight The Heartache's On me - Dixie Chicks

[angel5]

Old times... all those flashbacks and memories came upon Quistis as she saw herself surrounded by her closest friends. Squall was there with his usual careless look, to his side Selphie with a cheerful and outgoing attitude while Zell was nothing more than cockiness and Rinoa always as calm as ever. Quistis' heart was full of joy, she loved the fact that she was able to share some time with them. Everything she wanted is just happening... but her guilt got over herself when she thought about the brand's secret that she keeps from them.

Quistis was pretty much overwhelmed with work to even have a spare second to spend with them. Thats why this moment was very crucial for her mental health and she did not wanted to ruin the moment with such bad news. The professor looked towards Squall, who was a professional hiding his emotions, yet she knew he was glad to be with them.

Squall declared that there is something he is up to regarding setting up cameras along with Selphie. Quistis was glad to hear that if they were to finish anytime soon, maybe they will have some quality time at dinner. Quistis blatantly smiled, knowing she wanted to stay with them and forget about her problems. On the other side, Selphie asked for their help on setting up some cameras, comment Quistis nodded to her friend. "Of course I will help, but is there any reason for tightening the security like this Squall? Excuse me, but I was in a mission recently and haven't had time to read any memos. Quistis continued her conversation with Squall this time.

While scanning Rinoa, Quistis as a woman could tell there was something with her. The blonde professor could not tell at all what it was, but she knew that there was something amiss with her since Quistis felt perfectly the same about her secret. "Rinoa, is everything well with you? You look a bit paler than ever" Quistis said getting closer to the girl.

Quistis only thought was... maybe Rinoa was also branded with a L'Cie imprint and she also kept it all to herself. If this was to be true, Quistis and Rinoa can stay together and together find a solution to their demise. The professor, now in front of Rinoa, provided a comfortable smile to the blue dressed girl as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Quistis have always felt like the big girl of the group and is always looking for the safety of every single person here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Count: 536
Next: FFVIII peeps
Muse: Goodie

[dincht]

Zell was in such a cheery mood, especially upon seeing at least most of the gang gathered up here. He was the last to arrive of anyone by the looks of it. Oh well, better late than never right? It wasn’t like he’d been invited to this gathering…unless it was simply a coincidence they’d all ran into each other…or whatever, he just didn’t need to over think it right now. With a grin on his face as he had hopped off his T-board, joining the party so to speak, his eyes moved to Rinoa after he’d commented. Flashing the dark haired girl a grin, he shrugged his shoulders. “You know, I can’t make any promises on that. I have a busy schedule you know! Eating…and…T-boarding…and…yep.” What a life, Zell, what a life- wait what? Blue eyes flickered to Squall immediately. He was just in time to get to work…oh god this was going to be the worst pal-meeting ever. He could already feel a groan working its way up through his chest. Luckily he could hold that in for now.

“Oh really? What…kind of work?” The blonde asked, tilting his head slightly as his eyes flickered from Squall to the other members of this small meeting. It seemed everyone wanted to talk to him all at once, his words and attention was flying all over the place, but that was easy to handle, especially for someone as hyper and energetic as Zell. “Heck yeah, Selphie, I’ll still teach you to ride one of these…maybe after we finish whatever work on security there is?” he let that be an open ended offer before retuning his gaze to Squall, so dubbed ‘leader of the pack’ when it came to this crew. Not to mention he was headmaster now…it was just implied. With a clipboard being pushed towards him, that’s when a small groan escaped Zell’s lips. He gently set his T-board on the ground and reached out for the clipboard, taking it in his hands and looking over the list. This was…fun. No, not really. His eyes moved from the paper to Squall. “Okay. Just…tell me what you want done of Cap-i-tan.” He said now with the most carefree voice. Back to his initial mood, why let a few chores get in the way of Zell and a good day?

Quistis did bring up a good question though. Why all of a sudden did they need to tighten security? As far as Zell was concerned, it was safe as safe can be around here, he didn’t see any problems…but obviously someone else had seen some sort of problem. Oh well, he was being bribed with the idea of going to get food after all of this…these people, they knew his weaknesses. Boy was his mind scatter brained today. Oh well, at least he was going to help whether he liked it or not. If Squall needed assistance, that’s what friends were for right? This would also give them some time to bond as a group again…of course, another nice point brought up by Quistis. Zell folded his arms, a clipboard still in one hand as he leaned a little closer and looked at Rinoa. She did look maybe a shade paler than normal. Or…perhaps that was her normal complexion. Zell didn’t pay THAT much attention, perhaps Quistis was noticing it more because she was a girl, call it a chick thing. “Yeah, you okay?” he asked, just tagging along with the professor’s words and seeming like he’d been paying as close of attention as she had been. Once all the talking was done amongst one another, then they could get going and do…something, that way they could get to the food faster!

Aww yeah Zell, you and your priorities!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:[/color] 750
Muse:[/color] Good
Tagged:[/color] Dem people!
Wearing:[/color] His usual
Listening To:[/color] Nothing!
Notes:[/color] Meh, not great, but whatever!

[Rinoa Heartilly]

It sure was nice to meet up with Squall. She hadn’t been able to talk with him for the past few days since he had been extremely busy with headmaster-y stuff. And even if she did see him, it was just for a few split seconds if she ended up walking in the same vicinity as him. But, that was about it. She was happy that he had noticed her this time, and she could easily the same thing etched on his own face. She asked him what he was doing, just to make sure, and how he was doing. As usual, they were short and simple responses, but her smile grew bit wider by his later statement.

Selphie then came up, and Rinoa gave a simple greeting to the bubbly girl. Selphie returned it and then looked at her weirdly, almost as if something was wrong. Rinoa’s smile didn’t drop but she did quirk an eyebrow up in question, and asked, “Anything wrong?” She had no idea it was about her. She quickly noticed Squall’s expression towards her and she returned it with a simple nod. Didn’t want Selphie knowing anything. Her attention was then taken by Quistis coming along and asking for Selphie’s help. Finally, Zell came along on his t-board and thus practically the whole team was back together! This was extremely rare, especially with what Squall said about it being one of the busiest days of the year. Well, fate had been known to work in some very strange ways. This was certainly no surprise. It was just unfortunate that there was so much work to be done so that they wouldn’t be able to hang out more. Maybe in the future? She hoped so.

Wait...security? Was there something wrong with the tapes? Did...she thought back to what she had been thinking about earlier before she ran into everybody. Her blackouts. It was completely possible that she had been caught on one of the security cameras. They were everywhere, and Squall and Selphie both made sure that they were in working order. If only she was able to be more careful. But, then Quistis came up to her, placing a hand on her should and asking if she was okay with Zell following up. Rinoa couldn’t help but get a surprised look on her face before she masked it quickly with a smile. “No, nothing is wrong with me! I feel perfectly fine!” She emphasized her point by raising her arms, and making her smile broader. “See! I’m a-okay!” She hoped they bought it. With how busy they all were she didn’t want all of them fretting over her like a newborn baby, making sure she was alright. Especially Squall. He was headmaster which meant he was much more busy than anyone else. If he worried over her, then he would surely keel over from exhaustion and worry in no time. She may have been possessed at one point, but she most certainly could still fight! “Don’t worry about me. You guys have work to get done. Squall’s right. If we work together then we can eat sooner!” She hoped that moved them off of this subject of whether or not she was ok. She really did hope.

~~~

Words: 552
Muse: Good
Notes: *inserts suspicious music* >>

[Morgan Freeman]

The idea of Selphie learning how to t-board was almost worse than thinking about how much work it was going to take to be done with work for the day. Squall looked between her and Zell, wishing Zell had never ever discovered a t-board in all his life. That was what Squall needed, a bunch of the instructors coming to him to complain about the chaos Zell and Selphie were causing, but what was the point in telling them anything about it? When Selphie had her mind set on something, she didn't let up about it...maybe Squall needed to get someone to make an area in the training room for t-boarding. It'd be easier than seeing the rest of the campus start getting aggravated by any students flying around on them. And Squall couldn't put up with cranky old people who thought they were running the school these days, anyway, much less ones complaining about t-boards...

But that was another thought for another time. Right now, he could at least distract Selphie from her... "ambitions" by offering to help her with the cameras. He figured he needed to have his hands on them a little, since the cameras were probably the chief source of security at night and he at least knew what he was doing with them. The tugging on his arm was something he probably should have been ready for, but he had to glance her in slight surprise when she started up from all the bouncing. What surprised him a little more, though, was that she asked him to check back on something she'd already done, especially something she'd done with computers. Even if he'd wanted to check back behind her, he would have been sure to hear her assuring him she'd taken care of it all perfectly already. She was ten times better than he was with computers, anyway. But bringing up something like that... "Alright," he answered, simply, perfectly happy to be released anytime.

And Quistis' question did remind him, as he looked back to the rest of the party, that he hadn't exactly explained what all this was about. He had put out one email about it, but the people who were busy enough - and there were probably a few that were lazy enough - not to check their emails probably hadn't heard about what was going on. Squall ran a hand quickly through his hair and shrugged. "It hasn't happened here yet, but..." He motioned his head in the direction of Balamb. "In Balamb and a few other towns, like Timber, some people have been disappearing. Mostly younger people. I think the youngest was...fourteen." Squall had actually read a few of the reports in details to try and find some kind of modus operandi for all the disappearances. Mostly, they all just seemed to be cases of people disappearing without one single reason and one single trace of where they'd gone. "We have good security, but the kidnappings are too...clean. You know what I'd have to put up with if anyone disappeared from the campus..." He'd be hung up on a wall and have darts thrown at him, basically. Squall didn't think anything could happen here - the students were themselves good enough fighters not to have someone just take them - but he wasn't going to take that chance at all and cause them all more trouble than they needed to have on their plates. They were already busy enough.

And going to be busier for the next couple hours. Squall could tell that Zell didn't want any part of today's duties...but he'd probably do them anyway. Reaching a finger over to point at a couple of things on the list, Squall spoke up in response. "Make sure the front lobby's electronics are all working well. Should be enough entertainment...you can walk through all the checkpoints." Knowing Zell, he'd probably backflip through them. "And let the training room techs know we're going to close up in there at ten for a couple weeks. I don't think a kidnapper's crazy enough to go through the training room, but..." But again, no chances this time.

Squall was getting ready to let Selphie finally drag him off to the computers and cameras, but Quistis' question to Rinoa brought his eyes fully on the latter, studying her up and down to try and see what it was Quistis did that made her ask the question. He hadn't seen anything different about her when he come over...and she tended to have fair skin, anyway, which Squall was obviously the first to notice. Maybe she looked a tiny bit tired...but they were all tired, and he thought maybe she'd never gotten completely used to sleeping somewhere like Garden, where the accommodations weren't always the most comfortable in the world. Not compared to what she'd been used to before, anyway. Concern obvious on his face, he watched her brush it off as she always would...but in the back of his mind, something hit him about her response. He wasn't sure what it was...but he knew he'd need to ask her about it sometime later. Maybe something was bothering her and he'd been too stupid to notice it at first... He tried to meet her gaze and give her a look that said We can talk later once she reminded them all they had work to finish. He'd be sure to catch up with her sometime before the day was over, that much was a certainty on his schedule even if some of the other stuff didn't get done. Though it bothered him to know he couldn't talk to her right now, it would only worry the others...so yeah, it was best to keep moving.

He glanced Selphie. "You lead the way," he told her, giving Rinoa one last glance before he turned and made his way to follow Selphie inside to check on...whatever it was she wanted to check on.

Words - 1085
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - Whoever wants after Selphie can have the White SeeDs arrive and ask for Rinoa. [/size]

[Selphie Tilmitt]

T-boarding! Something Selphie had never been taught how to do, or given instructions anyway, and had always wanted to learn. She might not be good at it and she might fall on her butt a lot, but what better teacher then Zell Dincht?! He was a master at the art of getting in trouble for the sport that he loved. There was really no one that came to mind other than Zell that would be willing to teach her either. While the other students might T-board away from the school limits, Zell did it everywhere he went. So obviously he would have to be the best choice. “Oh yay! I’m pretty pumped for it!” Yeah, she was definitely excited, especially since she forgot that Squall was standing there right next to him, and that he was now the headmaster. Sheesh, she couldn’t keep everything straight mentally!

Quistis’ voice spoke out then. Blinking, Selphie glanced from Quistis to Rinoa, and then back again. She tried to keep the worry from her eyes. Had Quistis seen the same clip on the footage from the camera in the training room? Though she couldn’t imagine why, Selphie was nervous that she might have. Which didn’t really make any sense, did it? Did it really make sense that she was so worried? It was probably nothing! It was just probably Rinoa having gone to train and having her health drain with the various monsters they had come up with. Or…yeah, taken a nap or something. Selphie knew that some of the thoughts she had wouldn’t fit at all, but thinking them in her head made it a lot easier to believe that it wasn’t something she had to worry about.

When Rinoa answered that she was alright, Selphie let out a giant breath in a ‘whoosh’ that she had been holding in this entire time. To be perfectly honest, Selphie had been really worried that Rinoa might answer that she was terrible and lift off a bunch of reasons why she could prove that she was in trouble. Yeah, Selphie had to have just been thinking weird when she had seen that footage! It was probably absolutely nothing, and here she was making a huge deal out of it. Still, she was almost bursting in her need to tell Squall about what she had seen and then actually show him. If he thought it was nothing, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it. Unfortunately, she almost knew that something was the matter. How could there not be? After all, this just didn’t add up!

And finally he said that she could lead the way. “Okay!” Happily nodding, Selphie started to trot off toward where she had just left, wondering still what might be wrong. It had been Rinoa she had seen, right?-…Yeah, it had to be her. There wasn’t really anyone in the school that dressed in the exact same outfit and did their hair the exact same way, so…yeah. Peeking behind her shoulder once they were out of earshot, Selphie suddenly leaned in and whispered to him really loudly. “Squally, I actually need to show you something that worries me, not have you check on my work,” she said in a worried voice, tugging at his sleeve while they walked into the building with the computers inside.

Quickly leading him to the one she wanted, Selphie plopped down in the rolley chair and tapped at the keys she needed to bring it up on the computer. Musing to herself while she looked for the right file she needed, Selphie scrolled down and finally saw it. “Aha!”, she said triumphantly, before playing it back and scanning the room just to be sure that no one else was around. “Okay good, we’re alone,” she muttered to herself, before the scenes began to play. First it had nothing to do with Rinoa, but Selphie knew it would come. Leaning forward on her elbows, Selphie once again saw the recording start, and shifted so that she could see Squall’s reaction while she watched with her other eye. “It’s super-duper-mega weird!”, she warned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 897
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; The gang
Outfit:; That one I linked!
Location:; Computer room again
Notes:; None :3
Listening To:; --

[angel5]

Everything seemed to off, Quistis felt anxious and bothered by this whole thing going on with disappearances and portals opening up everywhere. Was this Ultimecia's doing? was she back? Or are these the consequences of breaking the time compression? It was too much to think about that Quistis was just overwhelmed... a headache was going to destroy her. Actually what Squall said made sense and it was really clear he was doing a great job applying evening mechanisms. Who knew that the shy little boy will become the Headmaster and succeed in it. Quistis fixed her glasses as Selphie dragged Squall by and Zell went ahead to whatever he was ordered to do. Quistis remained in Rinoas side as the girl looked even more paler and quite different... Quistis quickly started to think the worst since when Sorceress Abel took over her these were almost the same symptoms. Quistis was about to ask about her status when she saw the familiar uniforms of those SeeDs she thought were disbanded... this meant that there is something going on.

"Rinoa, stay here, there is something I must figure out really quick" She said while pointing to the bench not so far and walking in the opposite direction towards the White SeeD members. "Hello fellow companions, is there something going on? Why are there still White SeeDs when the sorceress are completely banished" She said fearing that they will respond with the words she didn't wanted to hear.

"Excuse us Miss Trepe, but we are not allow to speak any further than asking for Rinoa Heartily... is she somewhere to be found?" They asked leaving Quistis with eyes as widened as those from fried fish. Rinoa? then... it seems there is some kind of possessive sorcery going around and Squall was right to deal with this in a timely manner. She feared Rinoa was to be taken away by some reason and decided to put her position as professor aside and let friendship go first by protecting Rinoa from them until she figures out what is going on. She nodded negatively lying to them while they burst inside the Garden and she quickly stormed towards Rinoa.

"Rinoa, please trust me... there are White SeeDs roaming around looking for you... I need to know what is happening before they get to you or my hands are tied. This is Quistis your friend, not the SeeD officer." She said while assuming this had anything to do with the sorcerers who invaded their unnamed world a short time ago. Quistis hoped that Rinoa will be honest about her situation and that there is nothing serious going on...