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Post by Morgan Freeman on Jun 22, 2012 12:37:35 GMT -5
Squall had been impaled through the shoulder by a sorceresses' magic, tortured and even brought through time and space. They were experiences someone never forgot; the sensations, surreal and unique. He thought he'd never quite experience any feelings like them again...or hoped he wouldn't, least of all the first two.
Yet here came a new, unexplainable sensation that he believed he'd never forget again in his life. He felt as if he were...floating, without a sense of up and down or even of right and left, but he always felt...in place. Pulled to a specific destination that he would be carried to regardless of any actions he took in protest. It was an extremely frustrating feeling. No less frustrating than the vacuum that had pulled him into one of the portals Zell and Selphie had bothered to tell him about. Squall had no doubts that it had been a portal that drew him in and left him...suspended like this. It was as the two had described - a large, swirling magical entity with a vacuum pull that would have anyone within a few feet sucked in without the person managing to put up much of a fight. And so it had been with Squall...his early morning workout routine had been shattered by the portal's appearance. He couldn't say how long it had been since it yanked him in...he would have guessed only a minute or two, but he was so disoriented it was all he could do to think straight by keeping his eyes pressed shut. He wanted to last out at it...fight back like a caged lion, but good sense told him it wouldn't do him any good. He was at the portal's command for now...and it felt too much like being under control of Ultimecia's time magic for him to be comfortable with it.
And then, like a light switch had been turned off, the feeling was gone and a new feeling took him - falling. Squall immediately opened his eyes with a grunt at the new sensation, only to have his eyes dry out with the rush of wind against his descending body and be forced to squeeze them shut again. But he'd seen where he was when he opened them. Falling towards crystal-clear water, a couple dozen feet below him. Squall righted himself in mid-air, making it so his feet were going down first and his arms were spread out at his sides to control his fall. Looked like there was nothing threatening below him. Good. He broke the surface of the water smoothly with both feet, descending a few feet down until his momentum slowed and he could swim back up to the surface. With a few sweeps of his arms and paddles of his feet, he broke back through the surface, blinking away the water dripping into his eyes and catching his breath properly. He took survey of what was around him.
Water. Just...water everywhere. And a few shoals that would disappear underneath the water if the tide rose. Squall set his jaw and let loose a frustrated breath. Now what? Out in the water in the middle of nowhere. A soaked, temporarily useless gunblade weighing him down. Squall looked up at the sun. Looked like midday. But midday where? Zell and Selphie had made claims that it was another world they'd been transported to via portal. He had no way of knowing where he was, so he figured he would get nowhere thinking over it. He tried to let training kick in, but admittedly, being stranded out in the middle of the water with no land in sight hadn't been covered quite so thoroughly at the Garden. He did know some information about wind currents and the direction of land masses in relation and such as that, but those rules only applied in his own world. What if this was another? And then, what did he have to lose?
So Squall tried to determine the proper direction of the current from land at this time of day, eying the lightly lapping waves, before he took in a deep breath, picked his direction, and set off to swimming.
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Several hours later...
Exhaustion and disappointment had taken their toll by the time the afternoon had begun to wane, and Squall's current state proved a testament to that. Already wiped out by the time he'd seen land ahead, Squall basically made the rest of the trip as human flotsam, letting the easy waves carry him in towards the shoreline. His mind was muddled, and he barely registered the water shift to sand as he was pushed up at the edge of the water. A mostly-unconscious Squall remained motionless safe for the occasional movement of his mouth, speaking mumbled, incoherent versions of his friends' names, with night falling. Words - 860 Tagged - Lebreau! Muse - Excellent! Place - New Bodhum shore Outfit - BoopNotes - Yay for torturing characters![/size] |
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Post by lebreau on Jul 4, 2012 12:37:41 GMT -5
 Lebreau put up the CLOSED sign on her bar as she stepped out for the day. She needed to go out and get some ingredients, so that she could whip up something for other NORA members, along with getting cookie-making fixings for Maqui. She made sure it was locked before deciding she would take the scenic route, which consisted of not taking the streets, and instead take a detour on the beach. The sun was setting too, which meant it would be even more beautiful. She couldn’t help the smile that overcame her features at the thought of it all, and set out for the sandy beach, a slight, happy bounce in her step.
Things had been pretty calm lately, or at least calm for NORA. There hadn’t been that many monsters to deal with as of lately, which was quite good, in her opinion. Everyone was keeping themselves busy with things to do around the headquarters, or rather, she had been making sure that everyone had something to keep themselves occupied while their first job was on the down-low. She was probably the most busy out of all them, seeing as how she had to keep her bar going along with making sure the guys weren’t just lazying around all day. Well, one thing was for sure. She made sure her motherly personality was still in tip-top shape.
Lebreau finally arrived at the beach, and she would have taken her flats off if it wasn’t for the fact she wore stockings. She quickly scrapped that thought of her brain and allowed her shoes to sink into the soft sand. She was right about it being beautiful at this time of day. The sun looked like it was being submerged into the sea as the sky became covered with an array of red, orange, and pink. It looked like something as a painting and she couldn’t help but stare at it and smile, it was so breathtaking. But, then something caught her eye and she turned her head away from the gorgeous scenery to see what looked like a grown man lying on the beach. Now, usually she wouldn’t see this as odd. Men laid on the beach all of time, women included. The odd thing was, from where she stood, it looked like he wasn’t wearing any type of swimwear, and his body was much too close to the water seeing as how waves were crashing against him. She increased her pace until she was practically jogging and then once she got closer, it increased even more into a full out run.
She finally reached him, and kneeled down in the sand. He was lying face down but she could easily tell that he was alive by the fact that he was mumbling under his breath. She couldn’t quite catch what he was saying and she wasn't about to try and find out. She put a soft hand against his shoulder blade and leaned down a bit closer. “Hey, are you alright? My name is Lebreau. I’m going to take you someplace safe.” She raised her head and looked around quickly, thinking about what she should do. She figured she would take him to the bar first, since it was closer, and then once he had some of his strength back, she would take him back to NORA HQ where there was more space for him to lie and rest. The bar still had some food in the stock, so she would be able to make him something warm for him to eat and get his strength back quicker. She also had an emergency blanket stowed away that she would have to find once she got there, and got him settled.
She leaned down and placed both hands on each of his shoulders. “I’m going to help you up now,” she said, giving him ample warning before she reached down and wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him up. it was a good thing she was used to the weight of a rifle, which led to some good upper body strength on her part, or else this task would have been harder than it was. Once he was up on his feet, she allowed most of his weight to lean against her as she put his arm around her shoulders and kept a hand around his waist to keep him upright. And then she trudged forward through the sand, and headed back to the bar.
They finally made it, after a good half an hour walk, and by that time the sun had already set. Lebreau let go of the man’s hand and reached down into her shorts to grab the keys to the door and unlocked it before kicking it open, and keeping it there as she struggled slightly to get the both of them inside. What she wouldn’t give to have Gadot or Snow here with her, but it was just her so she would have to deal with it. She was able to get the both of them, allowing the door to close behind them, as she led him to a chair that she quickly moved to be up against the wall and deposited him there. “I’m gong to get you a blanket and make you something warm to eat so just stay here and rest.” And she ran off to do as such.
~~~
Words: 903
Muse: Great
Notes: Hope it is alright! I did my best to try and not godmod. XD |
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Post by Morgan Freeman on Jul 6, 2012 7:46:52 GMT -5
Had Squall been any at all aware of his surroundings, the fact that some stranger from a foreign world was approaching him all too quickly would have given him cause to use some caution in dealing with them, likely with a gunblade involved, until he could see a little more about them than the setting sun would allow at a distance. But Squall was lost...though a small part of his brain registered the approaching form he could see out of his nearly-closed eyes, his very loose grip on consciousness would not allow him to register his typical trained and reflexive reactions. He could only see their legs approachig him until they were nearly within reaching distance, and if Squall could have gotten himself to reach over or do anything at all more than give in to odd delusions about his friends, he would have done so. But body and mind were both spent, and Squall didn't even process the words spoken to him aside from the fact that they were being spoken by a female voice.
As the form helped him, Squall still had no idea of exactly what was happening. He kept hearing her voice, but it would just sound like it was coming from his mind. His awareness did change, though, once she started to move him. Feeling an arm around him, he twisted his body slightly as the onne bit of defense he had to offer, but it didn't take his delirious mind long to accept that the grip was not that of some threat. Instead, it belonged to someone that seemed to be getting him out of the water that was now threatening him with hypothermia, causing him to feel as if his body was collapsing in on himself. He would have helped her move him if he could, but Squall was still only semi-conscious and it was all he could do to keep his head from falling completely forward onto his chest, leading the rest of him to become mere dead weight.
He wasn't sure how long she dragged him along. The trip was as disorienting as his portal experience had been, and Squall only recovered slightly in the distance between the shore and the bar. All he knew was that he could see a tuft of brunette hair just beside him. All he could think this person could be was Rinoa, having forgotten the fact that this was a different world. In his belief that it truly was the woman most familiar to him that was helping him, Squall contentedly allowed himself to be dragged inside whatever odd building this was, finally managing some pained grunts that indicated he wasn't gone completely. He started to realize how he felt. His body felt like it weighed at least three times what it should. His body felt cold...his arms and legs were like chilled ribber, with every slight motion threatening him with the notion that they could fall off at any moment. His head hurt. He could barely see. He was soggy. And that was all he knew, until he felt himself loosened from the other person's arms and propped squarely in something that he decided was a chair. He let loose another grunt. The the voice again...and Squall realized the person was gone.
He sat, slumped, for several more seconds until he finally pushed himself back in the chair and let his head roll back so he was staring at the ceiling. He didn't recognize the place, that much he knew. It brought back bad memories - the last time he'd awoken from unconsciousness in a unfamiliar place, it had been in that torture device Seifer hadn't hesitated to use on him. This was no torture chamber, nor was he in any torture device. Squall let his head fall to an even level to take a look at the room through eyes slightly swollen from his experience. The place looked...like a bar. Was this...the bar Timber? No, the layout wasn't quite the same. Then he remembered...different world. That woman who was carrying him wasn't Rinoa at all then, was it? SeeD training kicked in for only a moment - he started looking for an escape route, or the means of achieving an advantage over whoever was here with him - but he discredited it immediately. Why would someone drag him here just to attack him? He was a perfect target out on the beach if they'd been planning to harm him.
So Squall just let his head roll back again and waited for this strange savior of his, cursing himself for his stupidity for being here in the first place.
Words - 813 Muse - Excellent! Notes - Nada![/size] |
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Post by lebreau on Jul 8, 2012 23:16:54 GMT -5
The walk back to the bar had been a little bit more difficult that Lebreau had first expected. When she had found out that the man was conscious, she had figured that he still had some strength in him, it was just that he was trying to regain it before he tried to get up and find help. That hadn’t been the case. When she had put an arm around him, and hoisted him up, he had turned a little, but then she quickly realized that it was practically a miracle that he was standing. His whole weight was leaning against her, and she had to use most, if not all, of her strength to keep him upright and start moving back in the direction of the bar. But, motherly instincts kicked in, and she didn’t stop once until she had to unlock the bar and almost kick the door in, to get both of them inside. She placed him down in a chair, making sure that his back was supported and that he wasn’t going to fall over on to the ground anytime soon, before she said she would go find a blanket and make him something warm and headed home to go do just as she had said.
First, she went in search of the blanket, pilfering through the one, and only, very small supply closet that contained just a few cleaning supplies. The blanket was located near the top of the closet, a mistake that she was going to fix as soon as the whole mess was cleaned up, and she reached up and grabbed it without making anything fall and cause a clatter. she moved back to the man once more, and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him forward slightly, but not enough that he fell over, and placed the blanket around his shoulders and giving him a small smile of reassurance. Hopefully that would bring back some energy into his body, along with any warmth, as she left once more to go make the warm food. She quickly made a mental note that she would also have to find some warm and dry clothes as soon as they got back to headquarters. But for right, a blanket and food would have to do.
She looked the stock that was still leftover from the busy day, and was happy to see that there was enough ingredients to at least make some warm potato soup. She grabbed the things she needed, as well as the pot, and set to work. As she allowed the pot to warm up, she did the necessary prep work that would allow this all to go smoothly. She made a quick roux in the pot before going back and making sure the pieces were small enough that it wouldn’t require too much effort to chew. Once the roux was set, she put in the rest of the ingredients, and allowed that to come to a boil as she grabbed some cheese, a bowl, and a spoon. She ladled out the soup was it once was done, making sure to put the burner to simmer, added the cheese, grabbed a glass of water, and headed out once more. She placed the bowl in front of the man, and let out a breath, satisfied with her work.
“There you go! Eat that, and you should feel better in no time.”
She couldn’t help the small smile on her face as she grabbed another chair from the stack against the wall, and sat down herself, though more to relax from her trek and quick work, than to just plain sit. The last time she had helped someone this much had been back during the Purge, and that was practically a war with refugees and guns and fighting. This was just a man who she had found stranded on the beach with no idea as to who he was or where he came from or even why in the hell he was practically laying in the water. But, helping people had been something that she had come to accept as part of her lifestyle and she wasn’t about to let that just drift off into the great unknown. And then realization struck her, as she had never even gotten a name, though at the time, it hadn’t been on the top of her list to acquire. She couldn’t help the embarrassed smile that replaced the other one as she asked him, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name.”
~~~
Words: 754
Muse: Excellent!
Notes: ...now I want potato soup. |
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Post by Morgan Freeman on Jul 16, 2012 9:05:21 GMT -5
She came back, with a blanket in tow (good...Squall felt like his shoulders were going to lock in place), and Squall finally got a good look at her, though he felt like he could barely raise his eyes enough. He first noticed her clothes, what few of them there were. She lived on a beach, experience at analyzing people reminded him, so the weather would be warm nearly all year-round save for the middle of the night. Why bundle up? He hadn't been all that out-of-his-mind to have momentarily believed she was Rinoa, either. Same hair color but not length, a lighter eye shade but the same color and features that, while narrow, were similarly attractive. And, once the blanket was around Squall's shoulders, she was gone again, Squall having thought of nothing to say and noting her brisk pace. She was also used to being on the move and managing situations. Squall could guess she might have run this bar, instead of being merely a waitress or filling some other capacity. Returning his eyes to the simpler task of staring at the floor, Squall groaned slightly as he pulled the blanket a little more closely to him and tried to let his body relax from the previous shock. It wasn't easy when you felt as if you were going to break in two from moving too much.
Squall wasn't sure how long she was gone, but he could hear some clanking and sounds of something cooking. A few minutes later, he could smell something that made anything in the Garden cafeteria seem like nothing more than slop. Then, she re-emerged, a bowl and a glass of water in hand. Squall exchanged a glance with her, still not knowing quite what to say to her. He inspected the contents of the bowl. Potato soup? Not much would have sounded better right now. Squall cringed slightly as he slid himself forward slightly so he could eat, though he gave the woman a quick glance first as she started to take a seat nearby. So this world wasn't so bad...
He took a spoon of the soup. It was really, really good, though Squall wouldn't quite get the chance to say as much yet as the woman mentioned he hadn't told her his name. Naturally...he'd been barely able to say anything at first. "Squall," he answered, noticing his voice was raspier than usual. He cleared his throat. "And thanks." He knew he probably should have said more, but that covered the fact, didn't it? All he could really do was thank her...he had nothing more to offer, especially not in this shape. His focus returned to the bowl and another few scoops of the soup before he finally felt up to taking a drink of the water...he thought he'd seen enough water for one day, but the first drink did wonders for the way his mouth had been feeling. It beat a mouthful of salt water.
He supposed, though, that he should try to hold some manner of conversation. Taking in a breath that was far easier than those earlier, Squall poked at a chunk of potato and looked back up at the woman. "Do you own this place?"
Words - 587 Muse - Excellent! Notes - Forgive me for shortness. @_@[/size] |
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Post by lebreau on Jul 24, 2012 23:02:47 GMT -5
From what she saw when she walked in with the bowl of soup, the young man was already doing better. It was a good thing she had been able to find that blanket quickly or else she wasn’t sure what she would have done. She was sure she wouldn’t have been able to run back to HQ, get the blanket, and then run all the way back. By then, he could have been suffering of hypothermia and she knew for a fact that that wasn’t good at all. But, he wasn’t now, and as soon as he ate the soup and was feeling better and had some more strength in him she would take him back to the NORA HQ where she knew that there had to be some clothes that he could fit in. Though it might be a bit difficult, since what she could see he wasn’t as tall and bulky as Snow and Gadot, wasn’t as slim as Yuj, and was bigger than Maqui. And she wasn’t about to give him any of her clothes. Oh well, maybe they had some extra ones that would fit him. She would just have to see what they had once she got him there. That was the only plan she could come up with at this point unfortunately.
She sat down across from him at the table and waited for a moment for him to start eating before asking him his name. Squall, huh? That certainly was a different name but then again some people had some strange names around here, so she wasn’t exactly one to talk. And then he gave her a simple thanks that just made her smile. “It’s part of my job. I’m Lebreau if you didn’t catch it earlier.” She was sure he didn’t since he had sort of been out of it when she had found him on the beach. It was more or less just confirmation for her when she told him what she was doing. She didn’t want him to freak out that moment and kept himself into even worse shape than he was already in. Though that was probably harder done than said since he had been in the worse shape he could have been when she found him.
She didn’t say anything else as she just watched him and made sure he continued to eat. He finally took a drink and she could see the relief on his face from doing so. Good, he was certainly feeling better now. She could tell. She raised an eyebrow when he took a breath and then asked her if she owned this place. She nodded. “I do. I own this bar so I can bring in funds for an organization I am a part of. It’s called NORA. In fact, as soon as you are done eating and have regained enough strength, I am going to take you there since that has better lodgings than my bar.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the end as the thought of all of NORA staying in her bar. She would keep that one to herself for now. “Any idea as to how you ended up on the beach?” she asked. “It’s not everyday that a girl finds someone washed up on the shore.”
~~~
Words: 550
Muse: Great
Notes: Nada :3 |
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Post by Morgan Freeman on Aug 7, 2012 6:43:05 GMT -5
Squall didn't actually know too many jobs that involved women in not much more than a bikini dragging people from what could have been a watery grave, but then again, Squall was still pretty sure he was in a different world. She mentioned her name was Lebreau...he thought he'd already heard it once before, but at the time his brain couldn't function well enough to inform him what he was hearing was a name. Squall wasn't one to go jumping on quick judgments about people - not lately, anyway - but he got a serious sense of humility from this woman that made what he was sure could have been an awkward, uncomfortable situation into something a whole lot easier to deal with. Squall didn't feel like he had to be watching her constantly, listening to the little SeeD voice in his head telling him this was a strange world and anything could be a danger. Nope, here, he felt relatively at ease. She showed no sign of an ulterior motive, unless she'd chosen to drug his bowl of soup...and that was a ridiculous thought for anyone to have. Worrying about something like that would have crossed the line from good training to paranoia.
Squall was just glad he was starting to feel intact enough that he could speak and sit straight up. He would have been just as well-off under Dr. Kadowaki's care, if he'd been back at Garden. A barowner and a nurse. Some combination. Squall didn't know anything about a NORA organization, but apparently it was small-time, considering they got their funding from a bar as she indicated. He would have asked what kind of an organization it was, but he figured if she was going to take him to their lodgings he'd probably find out there, anyway. Too many questions with him still feeling partially miserable didn't seem too smart, and he didn't want to bug her. She'd just saved him either from hypothermia or something else that would have ended with him bedridden for weeks if not dead, so peppering her with questions didn't seem like the proper way to thank her.
He also apparently missed the joke in her statements, but hid his ignorance in a bite of the soup and another drink of water.
She did have a question of her own, though, and Squall figured it made sense. Different world or not, Zell and Selphie had explained to Squall that this Gran Pulse they'd found had been a lot like their own world. And people didn't go almost-drowning in Squall's world unless they fished for a living, like a bunch of Bodhum's residents. Squall was pretty sure he didn't look anything like a fisherman...but then, Lebreau didn't look much like a bar owner. Would she know what he was talking about when he brought up portals? Huh, how could he guess? Just had to fish and see. "I was dumped in the middle of the water," Squall started to explain to her, only partially meeting her eyes, "out of a portal." It would be great by him if that statement wouldn't be reason for her to think he'd lost his mind during this whole experience. "I don't have a clue what world this is."
Words - 604 Muse - Excellente! Notes - Kind of blah, but should be okay.[/size] |
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