[FIC] FFVIII, "Ex Libris" for siva630
Title: Ex Libris
For: siva630
Medium: Fanfiction
Request(s): Seifer, Xu - pairing or gen or in-between. All good! Two prompts hitting me for this one; simply "backwards" or "going back". Interpret as freely as you like! I'd prefer a Xu who has a bit of occasional warmth to her. Snark appreciated!
Fandom(s): FF8
Characters/Pairings: Seifer, Xu (somewhere between gen and pairing)
Rating/Warnings: PG-13.
Feedback: Sure!
Spoilers: Nothing after the first hour of the game.
Word Count: 2908.
Summary: He'd definitely picked the wrong book to take his mind off the issues at hand. Or would any other book have been the same, with each word, sentence, paragraph a finely honed blade pointed right where it hurt most?
Notes: I leaned more toward the "going back" part of the prompt. I don't write Seifer and Xu very often (and I think I can safely say I've never written Seifer/Xu), so it seemed like a fun challenge. I hope that it turned out alright and that you enjoy it! ^_^
-Ex Libris-
Seifer Almasy avoided the library whenever possible-- he had a reputation to maintain, a reputation that did not include voluminous tomes, reading glasses that practically screamed "think I'm intelligent!", or the bleary-eyed squint of a bookworm driven to exhaustion by the latest chapter of Hyne-knows-what, whatever texts scholars clamored for these days. In short, he shunned anything that could be considered bookish; in other words, he went out of his way to ensure that nobody would ever mistake him for that insufferable Instructor Trepe.
But every so often, when something went wrong-- he lost a battle that should have been simple, a student violated Disciplinary Committee rules and escaped, the cadet that lived directly above him decided to practice his "martial arts" until all hours of the night for the fourth night in a row --Seifer sought refuge in the library and the age-worn pages of a book. And after today's disastrous field exam, he needed some escapist comfort more than ever.
After all, even as Seifer sat tracing the embossed letters of a book spine that spelled The Sorceress' Knight, the Garden higher-ups were convening to decide his punishment for 'insubordination and flagrant disobedience.' More like initiative and bravery, Seifer thought, and converted his urge to punch someone into a single slam of his palm on the wooden table instead. No, the flimsy, faux-wood table, he noted, deciding that 'mercenary' must just be a codeword for 'cheap as hell.' He ignored the glares from more studious cadets that his outburst earned.
Come on, focus. Focus, he told himself. On something besides these stupid bureaucrats. On something besides the fact that you were just as good as everyone else-- better! --and they passed and you failed. On something besides the look on her face when she said "You'll never be a SeeD. Calling yourself a captain is a joke."
He sucked in a breath, flicked the book open to a random page with a fingertip, and began to read:
As we postulate the various skills a Knight may need to effectively serve a Sorceress, we would be remiss if we failed to consider the important role that diplomacy and communication can play in maintaining positive relations with the outside world. Taking this factor into account, we aim to provide a brief overview of myriad lesser-known methods of communication.
Dryer than hell. Seifer started to doubt that the book could capture his attention. But he'd gone through the rigmarole of ordering it (based on title) from Galbadia Garden through the online inter-Garden book exchange, and if there was one thing Seifer hated, it was effort with no payoff. He was determined to find some redeeming quality, so he read on.
One historically popular "language" of this type is floriography, in which flower species, numbers, and arrangements are used to transmit a message or sentiment.
Flowers. Gardens. SeeDs. He'd definitely picked the wrong book to take his mind off the issues at hand. Or would any other book have been the same, with each word, sentence, paragraph a finely honed blade pointed right where it hurt most? He couldn't say.
~
For instance, arum, a stalky plant found throughout the forests of Galbadia, represents ardor.
Ardor. Passion. Devotion.
"Devote yourself to your training, your studies, and SeeD will welcome you with open arms." Even four years later, Seifer could still picture Xu proclaiming those words with a smile as she stood before his Battle Tactics class. He had never encountered the slight, brunette girl before; all he knew of her identity then was "Xu, SeeD Rank 15," as she'd mentioned in her introductory spiel. Headmaster Cid had asked her to talk to the new upperclassmen about SeeD and the course progression leading to it; most of the students enrolled in Battle Tactics had an interest in joining some type of combat force after graduation, and Cid wanted that force to be Balamb Garden's. She'd said almost as much in her introduction, too, though Seifer was making his own assumptions about the headmaster's motives.
Seifer had said something snide and perfectly audible to the class, not to mention Xu, but... what had it been?
"Work hard, study hard, and you get to play hard? That's it? It makes a great speech, but there's no way it's that easy." The instructor perched in the back of the classroom had looked ready to shower demerits on Seifer's head, but Xu had answered before he had the chance to intervene.
"Don't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. We could use you, especially. We're still waiting to get some gunblade users." Seifer's eyebrows raised. How could this girl know his weapon of choice when he knew next to nothing about her? "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Almasy." Xu answered the unspoken question, raising her own eyebrows and leaning forward with her hands clasped behind her back as she anchored her eyes on him. In his opinion, she looked like she'd been spending way too much time around the headmaster.
"Of course it does." Seifer's face broke into a satisfied smirk. "That's just what happens when you're the best." He leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, the perfect portrait of teenage overconfidence. He hadn't learned until much later that his reputation was for being Trouble with a capital T, not excellence.
"Alright, alright, save it for when you're a SeeD. They're the best, or else they wouldn't be SeeD in the first place, " Xu said, shaking her head. Her eyes, however, revealed underlying amusement. When you're a SeeD, she'd said. Seifer liked the sound of it, the way that his greatness was already a foregone conclusion.
"What made you join SeeD, Xu?" a girl raising her hand asked when Xu nodded at her in acknowledgment. Her voice practically dripped with reverence, and Seifer rolled his eyes.
"That's... well, there's a lot of reasons! First, it brings honor to Garden, the place I call home. So, it's a place I want to be proud of. And being part of SeeD lets me see more of the world and put all the skills I've learned here to use. I guess... well, long story short, it's been my dream for a long time, so I went for it." She spoke with her hands, battering the air in her enthusiasm.
It was amazing how one word could change the timbre of the entire presentation for Seifer. Jumping through hoops at Garden's say-so didn't seem appealing on its own, but doing everything possible to realize a dream? Seifer could almost... well, he could respect that. And being part of SeeD, the cream of the metaphorical crop? Earning the victories, the glory? It seemed like a really good dream.
He'd signed up to be a SeeD candidate later that week
~
Black-eyed Susan with its yellow petals, can be found throughout Timber. It signifies encouragement.
"Don't stress so hard over it! No one makes it into SeeD at fifteen, anyway. They try, but." Xu waved a hand, dismissing Seifer's woes as though she were swatting away a bug. He, on the other hand, was slouched against the Garden directory, arms crossed stiffly over his chest, clenching and releasing his jaw.
"Yeah, well, Blondie passed. And if anybody should be the exception to the rule, it should be me." Seifer pounded a fist against his chest on the last word, just to make sure his point really got across. A few students lingering in the main hall after the field exam, still dressed in their cadet blues, started at the suddenness of the gesture.
"Talk about post-traumatic stress," Seifer muttered, gazing at them out of the corner of his eye."Alright, walk with me," Xu directed and strode toward the ring of Garden's main hallway. The words contained no trace of request or inquiry; she spoke like someone accustomed to being listened to. She didn't even bother looking back to check if Seifer was following. He liked that the action conveyed power but hated being subject to it
"Going this way anyway, so I guess I will," Seifer justified and walked after her.
"Quistis is an extremely gifted student, too, you know," Xu said as Seifer fell into step beside her. She had to take one-and-a-half steps for each one of his because of the difference of statures, but somehow she managed not to lose even an ounce of her dignity. "You've got plenty of time, Seifer! Next year will be your year.
"I just don't like it when brown-nosing know-nothings are keeping me from my dream." He was referring to an incident between him and his Squad captain. Garden had assigned the SeeD candidates guard duty as extra protection for a group of dignitaries and entrusted them with the mission of getting the bigwigs safely to their convention. Seifer had ignored the route that his squad captain had assigned him, instead taking his charge across Deling City by means of a shortcut. The captain, being the little twerp that he was, had naturally reported Seifer's actions to the backup SeeDs. Not like they weren't watching anyway. What a tattletale, Seifer thought. When I track him down...
On the return transport to Balamb, Xu had taken him aside and explained in low tones that the SeeDs had discovered security threats on the original path. Seifer had been right-- but there was no way he could have known that at the time. Back at Garden, he learned that he'd been blackballed, given a failing mark on the exam. The faculty chalked it up to immaturity (not entirely unexpected from a 15-year-old) and suggested he let some time pass and then try again.
"Brown-nosing know-nothings? What a mouthful." A group of underclassmen passed them, giggling, poking, chattering, and Xu fell silent until the noise passed. "But look, I'll level with you. You're in the top 5% of students in the entire Garden as far as potential. So just take your lumps for now, follow orders next time, and I bet you anything that this time next year I'll be saying 'I told you so,' at the inauguration ball. Got it?" She stopped and turned to stare at Seifer for a moment, as though trying to gauge whether her message had reached him.
"Still keen on the apply-yourself-and-it'll-happen-for-you theory, are we?" He looked past her, eyes falling on the still water that bordered the hallways and smiled.
"Yes," Xu laughed. "I do try to stick with a theory when it's, you know, right." For a second, she almost looked like she were going to stick out her tongue at Seifer. Her shell of professionalism teetered on the edge, and she almost, almost looked like a normal nineteen-year-old girl, instead of a living weapon. But the moment flew by and her face resumed its usual thoughtful expression.
"I'm more of a make-it-happen sort of guy." The corner of Xu's lip quirked in a way that suggested she might not have described it quite like that, but she kept silent on the matter.
"Well, let's make something happen, then. Show me what you've got," Xu said instead, gesturing to the sign proclaiming 'Training Center' and raising an eyebrow that seemed to say "Can you handle it?".
Seifer had felt half-warm and half-weak when he'd seen what she could do with a handful of throwing stars.
~
Clematis, with its distinctive flower, warns a recipient against artifice.
"I see Cid finally sucked it up and gave you an office." Seifer could recall the exact angle of the light that hit Xu's face as she looked up from a stack of forms (carbonized and ready to document anything and everything in triplicate, he was sure) at the sound of his voice.
"Well, I never asked the headmaster for one until now," she answered mildly, pushing her bangs out of her face and tapping the end of a pen against her small desktop. Her small desktop that topped her tiny desk, which was in front of her petite swivel chair and beside her miniature mesh garbage can. The scale of the room itself matched the scale of the objects in it; Instructors and SeeDs inhabited offices on the top floor of the Dormitory, and two offices were squeezed out of each regular sized dorm room, so space was at a premium. Taken together, the scene had the effect of making Xu appear almost delicate. "So, what's up?" she asked, pulling Seifer out of his reverie.
"I'm here to collect on a bet." He lounged against the door frame as though it belonged to him.
"A bet. Look, it's not my job to play referee for petty conflicts between students." She leaned back in her chair and her head thunked against the wall that was seemingly much closer than she expected. She frowned.
"Ah, but I'm here about your bet." Cue Seifer's trademark feral grin.
"What?"
Xu, did you or did you not say last year that you bet me anything you'd be saying 'I told you so' at the SeeD ball tonight?" He strode into the office without waiting for an invitation and hovered over the desk.
"And I would have been, if you were a little better at subterfuge!" She scooped up the stack of papers and straightened them, moving them as far away from Seifer as the small space allowed.
"Nah, Instructor Aki just has a grudge against me. He failed me on purpose." Seifer accented the last few syllables with a series of knuckle-raps on the desk.
"Well, what did you expect to happen? I mean, did you or did you not say, and I'm quoting here, 'Do you have any idea who I am? I'm the SeeD that's going to waste you if you don't cooperate.'?" He had said it, in response to a mark that made the mistake of asking Seifer "Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Xu, I just speak the truth. It means I'm trustworthy. Doesn't Garden want trustworthy SeeDs?"
"But what possessed you to speak the truth during an undercover mission?" He flushed and frowned, not wanting to admit that he'd gotten carried away with the idea of being an avenging sword, or gunblade, as it were. He waved a hand to dismiss her comment.
"Still, you said you'd bet anything. It's a verbal contract. You wouldn't want to be known for going back on your word, would you?"
"Blackmail is below you, Seifer. What do you really want?" She stood from the desk and raised herself to her full height. With a smirk, Seifer straightened his spine, too, negating any height that Xu had gained. You.
"I want... to go kick some T-rexaur ass. Take my mind off things." He punched one gloved hand against the other.
"All you had to do was ask." She tugged the top drawer open-- it stuck in the humidity --and pulled out a pouch of throwing stars, which she clipped onto her beltloop.
"Should have known you can't resist me." She shot him a withering look.
"More like you should have know that SeeDs are committed to helping train our juniors." Seifer almost expected her to end the sentence with a "so there.
"Well, if that's what you want to use as an excuse." He sauntered out of her office, smiling when his back was to her so she couldn't see.
"You're incorrigible!" She called after him before following. But she hid a smile, feigning that she was checking to make sure her office door was secure to justify turning away. "We'll just see how much better you've gotten as a fighter. But to be honest with you, I don't think that's an area you need to work on. You have to start actually listening to people. You're getting too old for this.
"Said the older woman." Seifer said, as the elevator door slid open. Not that he thought she looked a day over eighteen.
"Oh, ha ha. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised that our most blunt student is terrible at pretending." Xu punched the 1F key with more force than necessary.
~
It was really too bad, Seifer thought to himself as he stretched in the library chair, that she'd never had the slightest idea how capable of pretending he really was.
It was even worse, though, that right now he couldn't pretend everything was fine. He could sense that something had changed, that something had broken, maybe irreparably. This year, he knew there would be no post-exam decompression in the Training Center. No confidence-restoring banter. No reassurance about the future. He'd been chastised, dismissed. Like he was a disappointment.
Seifer was so wrapped up in the past and his thoughts that he didn't even feel a presence loom behind him. But he definitely felt Instructor Trepe's fingernails dig into his shoulder like a T-rexaur's claws. It jolted him back to the less-appealing present, and he groaned.
"Seifer. Let's go," Quistis ordered. Go where? He couldn't go back. He couldn't do anything differently. Probably wouldn't do anything differently. So perhaps Xu was right, he'd never make it as a SeeD.
Well, then, he'd just have to go forward. Find a new dream. He closed his book and gave its cover a long stare.
"Onwards," Seifer finally said, spreading his arms out as though he were trying to capture the entire world in their span.
For: siva630
Medium: Fanfiction
Request(s): Seifer, Xu - pairing or gen or in-between. All good! Two prompts hitting me for this one; simply "backwards" or "going back". Interpret as freely as you like! I'd prefer a Xu who has a bit of occasional warmth to her. Snark appreciated!
Fandom(s): FF8
Characters/Pairings: Seifer, Xu (somewhere between gen and pairing)
Rating/Warnings: PG-13.
Feedback: Sure!
Spoilers: Nothing after the first hour of the game.
Word Count: 2908.
Summary: He'd definitely picked the wrong book to take his mind off the issues at hand. Or would any other book have been the same, with each word, sentence, paragraph a finely honed blade pointed right where it hurt most?
Notes: I leaned more toward the "going back" part of the prompt. I don't write Seifer and Xu very often (and I think I can safely say I've never written Seifer/Xu), so it seemed like a fun challenge. I hope that it turned out alright and that you enjoy it! ^_^
-Ex Libris-
Seifer Almasy avoided the library whenever possible-- he had a reputation to maintain, a reputation that did not include voluminous tomes, reading glasses that practically screamed "think I'm intelligent!", or the bleary-eyed squint of a bookworm driven to exhaustion by the latest chapter of Hyne-knows-what, whatever texts scholars clamored for these days. In short, he shunned anything that could be considered bookish; in other words, he went out of his way to ensure that nobody would ever mistake him for that insufferable Instructor Trepe.
But every so often, when something went wrong-- he lost a battle that should have been simple, a student violated Disciplinary Committee rules and escaped, the cadet that lived directly above him decided to practice his "martial arts" until all hours of the night for the fourth night in a row --Seifer sought refuge in the library and the age-worn pages of a book. And after today's disastrous field exam, he needed some escapist comfort more than ever.
After all, even as Seifer sat tracing the embossed letters of a book spine that spelled The Sorceress' Knight, the Garden higher-ups were convening to decide his punishment for 'insubordination and flagrant disobedience.' More like initiative and bravery, Seifer thought, and converted his urge to punch someone into a single slam of his palm on the wooden table instead. No, the flimsy, faux-wood table, he noted, deciding that 'mercenary' must just be a codeword for 'cheap as hell.' He ignored the glares from more studious cadets that his outburst earned.
Come on, focus. Focus, he told himself. On something besides these stupid bureaucrats. On something besides the fact that you were just as good as everyone else-- better! --and they passed and you failed. On something besides the look on her face when she said "You'll never be a SeeD. Calling yourself a captain is a joke."
He sucked in a breath, flicked the book open to a random page with a fingertip, and began to read:
As we postulate the various skills a Knight may need to effectively serve a Sorceress, we would be remiss if we failed to consider the important role that diplomacy and communication can play in maintaining positive relations with the outside world. Taking this factor into account, we aim to provide a brief overview of myriad lesser-known methods of communication.
Dryer than hell. Seifer started to doubt that the book could capture his attention. But he'd gone through the rigmarole of ordering it (based on title) from Galbadia Garden through the online inter-Garden book exchange, and if there was one thing Seifer hated, it was effort with no payoff. He was determined to find some redeeming quality, so he read on.
One historically popular "language" of this type is floriography, in which flower species, numbers, and arrangements are used to transmit a message or sentiment.
Flowers. Gardens. SeeDs. He'd definitely picked the wrong book to take his mind off the issues at hand. Or would any other book have been the same, with each word, sentence, paragraph a finely honed blade pointed right where it hurt most? He couldn't say.
~
For instance, arum, a stalky plant found throughout the forests of Galbadia, represents ardor.
Ardor. Passion. Devotion.
"Devote yourself to your training, your studies, and SeeD will welcome you with open arms." Even four years later, Seifer could still picture Xu proclaiming those words with a smile as she stood before his Battle Tactics class. He had never encountered the slight, brunette girl before; all he knew of her identity then was "Xu, SeeD Rank 15," as she'd mentioned in her introductory spiel. Headmaster Cid had asked her to talk to the new upperclassmen about SeeD and the course progression leading to it; most of the students enrolled in Battle Tactics had an interest in joining some type of combat force after graduation, and Cid wanted that force to be Balamb Garden's. She'd said almost as much in her introduction, too, though Seifer was making his own assumptions about the headmaster's motives.
Seifer had said something snide and perfectly audible to the class, not to mention Xu, but... what had it been?
"Work hard, study hard, and you get to play hard? That's it? It makes a great speech, but there's no way it's that easy." The instructor perched in the back of the classroom had looked ready to shower demerits on Seifer's head, but Xu had answered before he had the chance to intervene.
"Don't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. We could use you, especially. We're still waiting to get some gunblade users." Seifer's eyebrows raised. How could this girl know his weapon of choice when he knew next to nothing about her? "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Almasy." Xu answered the unspoken question, raising her own eyebrows and leaning forward with her hands clasped behind her back as she anchored her eyes on him. In his opinion, she looked like she'd been spending way too much time around the headmaster.
"Of course it does." Seifer's face broke into a satisfied smirk. "That's just what happens when you're the best." He leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, the perfect portrait of teenage overconfidence. He hadn't learned until much later that his reputation was for being Trouble with a capital T, not excellence.
"Alright, alright, save it for when you're a SeeD. They're the best, or else they wouldn't be SeeD in the first place, " Xu said, shaking her head. Her eyes, however, revealed underlying amusement. When you're a SeeD, she'd said. Seifer liked the sound of it, the way that his greatness was already a foregone conclusion.
"What made you join SeeD, Xu?" a girl raising her hand asked when Xu nodded at her in acknowledgment. Her voice practically dripped with reverence, and Seifer rolled his eyes.
"That's... well, there's a lot of reasons! First, it brings honor to Garden, the place I call home. So, it's a place I want to be proud of. And being part of SeeD lets me see more of the world and put all the skills I've learned here to use. I guess... well, long story short, it's been my dream for a long time, so I went for it." She spoke with her hands, battering the air in her enthusiasm.
It was amazing how one word could change the timbre of the entire presentation for Seifer. Jumping through hoops at Garden's say-so didn't seem appealing on its own, but doing everything possible to realize a dream? Seifer could almost... well, he could respect that. And being part of SeeD, the cream of the metaphorical crop? Earning the victories, the glory? It seemed like a really good dream.
He'd signed up to be a SeeD candidate later that week
~
Black-eyed Susan with its yellow petals, can be found throughout Timber. It signifies encouragement.
"Don't stress so hard over it! No one makes it into SeeD at fifteen, anyway. They try, but." Xu waved a hand, dismissing Seifer's woes as though she were swatting away a bug. He, on the other hand, was slouched against the Garden directory, arms crossed stiffly over his chest, clenching and releasing his jaw.
"Yeah, well, Blondie passed. And if anybody should be the exception to the rule, it should be me." Seifer pounded a fist against his chest on the last word, just to make sure his point really got across. A few students lingering in the main hall after the field exam, still dressed in their cadet blues, started at the suddenness of the gesture.
"Talk about post-traumatic stress," Seifer muttered, gazing at them out of the corner of his eye."Alright, walk with me," Xu directed and strode toward the ring of Garden's main hallway. The words contained no trace of request or inquiry; she spoke like someone accustomed to being listened to. She didn't even bother looking back to check if Seifer was following. He liked that the action conveyed power but hated being subject to it
"Going this way anyway, so I guess I will," Seifer justified and walked after her.
"Quistis is an extremely gifted student, too, you know," Xu said as Seifer fell into step beside her. She had to take one-and-a-half steps for each one of his because of the difference of statures, but somehow she managed not to lose even an ounce of her dignity. "You've got plenty of time, Seifer! Next year will be your year.
"I just don't like it when brown-nosing know-nothings are keeping me from my dream." He was referring to an incident between him and his Squad captain. Garden had assigned the SeeD candidates guard duty as extra protection for a group of dignitaries and entrusted them with the mission of getting the bigwigs safely to their convention. Seifer had ignored the route that his squad captain had assigned him, instead taking his charge across Deling City by means of a shortcut. The captain, being the little twerp that he was, had naturally reported Seifer's actions to the backup SeeDs. Not like they weren't watching anyway. What a tattletale, Seifer thought. When I track him down...
On the return transport to Balamb, Xu had taken him aside and explained in low tones that the SeeDs had discovered security threats on the original path. Seifer had been right-- but there was no way he could have known that at the time. Back at Garden, he learned that he'd been blackballed, given a failing mark on the exam. The faculty chalked it up to immaturity (not entirely unexpected from a 15-year-old) and suggested he let some time pass and then try again.
"Brown-nosing know-nothings? What a mouthful." A group of underclassmen passed them, giggling, poking, chattering, and Xu fell silent until the noise passed. "But look, I'll level with you. You're in the top 5% of students in the entire Garden as far as potential. So just take your lumps for now, follow orders next time, and I bet you anything that this time next year I'll be saying 'I told you so,' at the inauguration ball. Got it?" She stopped and turned to stare at Seifer for a moment, as though trying to gauge whether her message had reached him.
"Still keen on the apply-yourself-and-it'll-happen-for-you theory, are we?" He looked past her, eyes falling on the still water that bordered the hallways and smiled.
"Yes," Xu laughed. "I do try to stick with a theory when it's, you know, right." For a second, she almost looked like she were going to stick out her tongue at Seifer. Her shell of professionalism teetered on the edge, and she almost, almost looked like a normal nineteen-year-old girl, instead of a living weapon. But the moment flew by and her face resumed its usual thoughtful expression.
"I'm more of a make-it-happen sort of guy." The corner of Xu's lip quirked in a way that suggested she might not have described it quite like that, but she kept silent on the matter.
"Well, let's make something happen, then. Show me what you've got," Xu said instead, gesturing to the sign proclaiming 'Training Center' and raising an eyebrow that seemed to say "Can you handle it?".
Seifer had felt half-warm and half-weak when he'd seen what she could do with a handful of throwing stars.
~
Clematis, with its distinctive flower, warns a recipient against artifice.
"I see Cid finally sucked it up and gave you an office." Seifer could recall the exact angle of the light that hit Xu's face as she looked up from a stack of forms (carbonized and ready to document anything and everything in triplicate, he was sure) at the sound of his voice.
"Well, I never asked the headmaster for one until now," she answered mildly, pushing her bangs out of her face and tapping the end of a pen against her small desktop. Her small desktop that topped her tiny desk, which was in front of her petite swivel chair and beside her miniature mesh garbage can. The scale of the room itself matched the scale of the objects in it; Instructors and SeeDs inhabited offices on the top floor of the Dormitory, and two offices were squeezed out of each regular sized dorm room, so space was at a premium. Taken together, the scene had the effect of making Xu appear almost delicate. "So, what's up?" she asked, pulling Seifer out of his reverie.
"I'm here to collect on a bet." He lounged against the door frame as though it belonged to him.
"A bet. Look, it's not my job to play referee for petty conflicts between students." She leaned back in her chair and her head thunked against the wall that was seemingly much closer than she expected. She frowned.
"Ah, but I'm here about your bet." Cue Seifer's trademark feral grin.
"What?"
Xu, did you or did you not say last year that you bet me anything you'd be saying 'I told you so' at the SeeD ball tonight?" He strode into the office without waiting for an invitation and hovered over the desk.
"And I would have been, if you were a little better at subterfuge!" She scooped up the stack of papers and straightened them, moving them as far away from Seifer as the small space allowed.
"Nah, Instructor Aki just has a grudge against me. He failed me on purpose." Seifer accented the last few syllables with a series of knuckle-raps on the desk.
"Well, what did you expect to happen? I mean, did you or did you not say, and I'm quoting here, 'Do you have any idea who I am? I'm the SeeD that's going to waste you if you don't cooperate.'?" He had said it, in response to a mark that made the mistake of asking Seifer "Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Xu, I just speak the truth. It means I'm trustworthy. Doesn't Garden want trustworthy SeeDs?"
"But what possessed you to speak the truth during an undercover mission?" He flushed and frowned, not wanting to admit that he'd gotten carried away with the idea of being an avenging sword, or gunblade, as it were. He waved a hand to dismiss her comment.
"Still, you said you'd bet anything. It's a verbal contract. You wouldn't want to be known for going back on your word, would you?"
"Blackmail is below you, Seifer. What do you really want?" She stood from the desk and raised herself to her full height. With a smirk, Seifer straightened his spine, too, negating any height that Xu had gained. You.
"I want... to go kick some T-rexaur ass. Take my mind off things." He punched one gloved hand against the other.
"All you had to do was ask." She tugged the top drawer open-- it stuck in the humidity --and pulled out a pouch of throwing stars, which she clipped onto her beltloop.
"Should have known you can't resist me." She shot him a withering look.
"More like you should have know that SeeDs are committed to helping train our juniors." Seifer almost expected her to end the sentence with a "so there.
"Well, if that's what you want to use as an excuse." He sauntered out of her office, smiling when his back was to her so she couldn't see.
"You're incorrigible!" She called after him before following. But she hid a smile, feigning that she was checking to make sure her office door was secure to justify turning away. "We'll just see how much better you've gotten as a fighter. But to be honest with you, I don't think that's an area you need to work on. You have to start actually listening to people. You're getting too old for this.
"Said the older woman." Seifer said, as the elevator door slid open. Not that he thought she looked a day over eighteen.
"Oh, ha ha. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised that our most blunt student is terrible at pretending." Xu punched the 1F key with more force than necessary.
~
It was really too bad, Seifer thought to himself as he stretched in the library chair, that she'd never had the slightest idea how capable of pretending he really was.
It was even worse, though, that right now he couldn't pretend everything was fine. He could sense that something had changed, that something had broken, maybe irreparably. This year, he knew there would be no post-exam decompression in the Training Center. No confidence-restoring banter. No reassurance about the future. He'd been chastised, dismissed. Like he was a disappointment.
Seifer was so wrapped up in the past and his thoughts that he didn't even feel a presence loom behind him. But he definitely felt Instructor Trepe's fingernails dig into his shoulder like a T-rexaur's claws. It jolted him back to the less-appealing present, and he groaned.
"Seifer. Let's go," Quistis ordered. Go where? He couldn't go back. He couldn't do anything differently. Probably wouldn't do anything differently. So perhaps Xu was right, he'd never make it as a SeeD.
Well, then, he'd just have to go forward. Find a new dream. He closed his book and gave its cover a long stare.
"Onwards," Seifer finally said, spreading his arms out as though he were trying to capture the entire world in their span.