It's really been a whole month?
Sheesh, I'm really bad at posting consistently. I like to only post when I have something substantial, though. This isn't quite long enough for a story, but here's something else from the Gryphons universe.
Also, you know that Chinese legend I mentioned in the last post? I still want to do stuff with that. If anyone's willing to talk it out? I half need someone to bounce ideas off of, and I half want to try roleplaying it.
Title: Little Things
Characters: Cloud, Aerith, Tifa.
Rating: Perfectly safe.
Summary: Being a Rider means a few more changes than Cloud thought.
As soon as they had gotten the chance to, they'd pierced his ears.
Cloud hadn't seen any reason for it at first. He'd thought it was just the girls being... well, girls. After all, Tifa and Aerith had been threatening to dress him up from the moment they'd met him, though he couldn't see how earrings had anything to do with it.
He hadn't believed Tifa when she'd said that they all had piercings, every single Rider. Aerith had seconded her, so Cloud had dashed out of the tent to check. There were some things you just couldn't believe without seeing them for yourself.
It was true, though- every single gryphon rider in the camp had them, two in each ear. Yuffie had gotten them, though she had only been a Rider for a little longer than he had. Cid, who Cloud had thought too rough for such things, had the piercings. Even Sephiroth had them. And everyone had delicate silver studs, small enough to keep from catching on things, but large enough to be visible. Tifa had explained, once she'd dragged him back to Aerith's tent.
It was, she had said, one of the ways to identify the Free Kingdom's Riders. "Our gryphons are not the only ones out there," she had told him. "There are plenty out there that don't come to us, and there are rouges and bandits eager to take advantage of that to impersonate our riders. There isn't much we can do to stop them, or get rid of all of them. Instead, we make ourselves hard to impersonate. The earrings, the designs on our tunics, the styling on the gryphons' halters- it's all hard to be copied, especially by a poor bunch of bandits. It lets us riders know who we're actually dealing with, and the people don't trust a rider who's shabby, so it all works out."
He had stopped listening after that, mostly because Aerith had started coming toward him with needles, to make the piercings. It wasn't that he mistrusted her, or expected her to attack him with the things, it was just that he didn't want anyone coming near him with sharp things, and instinct demanded that he watch for any sign of attack. Both of the girls had noticed, of course, but neither commented, and Aerith hadn't seemed all that offended. The healer had simply left the tent after, leaving him with Tifa.
He actually started to like the earrings, once he had gotten used to them. It fit somehow, and he didn't feel ridiculous with them in the way he thought he would, even when Aerith teased him about fainting from getting the piercings, or Fenrir got distracted by the shiny new jewelry. It was little things like this that showed that he was actually a part of the group.
Also, you know that Chinese legend I mentioned in the last post? I still want to do stuff with that. If anyone's willing to talk it out? I half need someone to bounce ideas off of, and I half want to try roleplaying it.
Title: Little Things
Characters: Cloud, Aerith, Tifa.
Rating: Perfectly safe.
Summary: Being a Rider means a few more changes than Cloud thought.
As soon as they had gotten the chance to, they'd pierced his ears.
Cloud hadn't seen any reason for it at first. He'd thought it was just the girls being... well, girls. After all, Tifa and Aerith had been threatening to dress him up from the moment they'd met him, though he couldn't see how earrings had anything to do with it.
He hadn't believed Tifa when she'd said that they all had piercings, every single Rider. Aerith had seconded her, so Cloud had dashed out of the tent to check. There were some things you just couldn't believe without seeing them for yourself.
It was true, though- every single gryphon rider in the camp had them, two in each ear. Yuffie had gotten them, though she had only been a Rider for a little longer than he had. Cid, who Cloud had thought too rough for such things, had the piercings. Even Sephiroth had them. And everyone had delicate silver studs, small enough to keep from catching on things, but large enough to be visible. Tifa had explained, once she'd dragged him back to Aerith's tent.
It was, she had said, one of the ways to identify the Free Kingdom's Riders. "Our gryphons are not the only ones out there," she had told him. "There are plenty out there that don't come to us, and there are rouges and bandits eager to take advantage of that to impersonate our riders. There isn't much we can do to stop them, or get rid of all of them. Instead, we make ourselves hard to impersonate. The earrings, the designs on our tunics, the styling on the gryphons' halters- it's all hard to be copied, especially by a poor bunch of bandits. It lets us riders know who we're actually dealing with, and the people don't trust a rider who's shabby, so it all works out."
He had stopped listening after that, mostly because Aerith had started coming toward him with needles, to make the piercings. It wasn't that he mistrusted her, or expected her to attack him with the things, it was just that he didn't want anyone coming near him with sharp things, and instinct demanded that he watch for any sign of attack. Both of the girls had noticed, of course, but neither commented, and Aerith hadn't seemed all that offended. The healer had simply left the tent after, leaving him with Tifa.
He actually started to like the earrings, once he had gotten used to them. It fit somehow, and he didn't feel ridiculous with them in the way he thought he would, even when Aerith teased him about fainting from getting the piercings, or Fenrir got distracted by the shiny new jewelry. It was little things like this that showed that he was actually a part of the group.