(Untitled)

[theftofhearts]

Bi-Winning. You're welcome.

Who: Al-Cid Margrace and Quistis Trepe
What: Traveling to Garden to update Squall on this and that!
Where: Al-Cid's airship, Balamb Garden, Balamb Area.
When: After this thread (NSFW at times) which happened after the initial incident

Comments

[takeoffmyhead]

Quistis had only gotten to know Al-Cid all the better in the past few days. She studied his routines, and his moods, and noted how low he had become as their investigations continued. She said nothing of it at first, just pushing her glasses up her nose and quietly observing Al-Cid's tempers and mannerisms. Not to say that he hadn't been attentive, but between pouring over maps and charts, Quistis could see that his good humour was taking a reasonable amount of his energy

[leatheredlion]

Squall looked far older than his nineteen years. "Pleased to meet you Margrace, sorry it isn't under more pleasant circumstances." He took the papers and glanced over them, before scribbling some notes down on his own papers.

"We have dispatched teams of SeeD across the worst affected areas. Malboros have yet to penetrate Esthar's borders, so they are sending us some of their soldiers as well."

Ah, the good old avoidance tactic. Pretend the question wasn't asked and then he wouldn't have to answer.

[theftofhearts]

Al-Cid bowed at the waist when he was introduced, smiling to Squall and looking around the office. It looked as if the man had a lot.. a lot of work to do. He noted how Quistis gave her report in the short and sweet, and how Squall easily took the reports, gave Quistis one of his own, and pointedly ignored the woman's question. That was all well and good, it was a man's choice to tell a woman, or -anyone- for that matter, whether or not he believed himself to be okay

[takeoffmyhead]

While Quistis might have missed Al-Cid's look, she turned slightly to give him a lingering look of her own. There was something amusing about watching him interacting with Squall, pacing up and down and being so serious.

She lifted one of Squall's reports to take a look, hiding her face behind it before she started to smile or, worst still, to giggle. She too cleared her throat before looking pointedly at Squall, "Selphie's currently in Lindblum. I know she'll hold fort there, and she has been helping to heal the injured. Have you been in touch with any of the other Gardens? What is their plan of action?"

[leatheredlion]

The teen rubbed at his injured wrist, and then at his tired eyes. "Galbadia are sending some of their own soldiers out into the field. I have Zell and Irvine out with their own teams."

He really wished he knew where the source of the invasion was. Cut off the source and maybe the rest would stop coming. He'd love to get his hands on who or what was behind this.

[theftofhearts]

"Right. I assume these men you have mentioned are skilled SeeDs." Al-Cid frowned slightly, tapping his chin and thinking, "We have some maps and charts, we know that they seem to be drawn to population centers.. People, dense populations. On the way out here, we saw several villages that were swarmed.." his voice choked, and he shook his head, frowning, "Swarmed and decimated. But outlying farmland, solitary homesteads.. for the most part were untouched

[takeoffmyhead]

Quistis looked quite grave, a small frown appearing on her forehead as she listened between the two men, pacing across to the other side of the room with her arms around her chest. She turned sharply towards Al-Cid when she noticed his choked voice, and though she stood at the other end of the room, she felt the sudden urge to go to him and hold his hand.

But she resisted, just turning back to look at Squall. "The Malboro attack in Lindblum is where Al-Cid and I met. I have seen him in battle, and I know that he can take care of himself. Moreover, I would vouch for his claims on his information seeking. He would certainly be an asset to us here."

Quistis sighed deeply before walking across to Squall's desk, standing directly in front of him. She pulled a hand through her hair as she looked at him, "Squall. You need rest. Let me take over here until you're feeling better."

[leatheredlion]

"My best SeeD are out there doing their best. But the more people we have the better." Squall wasn't going to argue about whether or not Al-Cid was right for the job. Things were bad and they needed as much help as possible, and if Al-Cid was offering, then Squall would accept that aid.

He frowned at Quistis. "I'm fine. I just need to keep working. Things aren't going to fix themself. More Malboro are arriving and I need to be ready to defeat them." No slacking off here!

[theftofhearts]

The dusky man raked his fingers through his hair with a small sigh, and nodded to Quistis, then returned his attention to Squall, regarding the young man with a knowing expression, though it was well hidden by his sunglasses, "Quistis.. if the man claims to be fine, then he will be fine.. but Squall.. you are no good to the people who need you if you are unable to do your job. For the sake of Garden, and everything else, I urge you to take a break when you find you cannot continue without risking your health

[takeoffmyhead]

"Squall, I'm here now, so you have to remember that 'we' need to keep working and that 'we' need to be ready to defeat them. This isn't something you're supposed to do on her own."

Quistis moved from in front of the desk to stand directly beside Squall in his chair. She looked down at him, feeling quite ridiculous in her evening gown, but nevertheless feeling more refreshed and ready that he looked. "At least, just for one day, let me do this. You need to eat and sleep, and whenever you feel ready for it, you can take control again." She glanced across at Al-Cid before looking back at Squall, "You can't burn yourself out over some Malboros."

[leatheredlion]

"If we could find the source then we could stop the problem, or at least have more of an understanding on what is causing it. We don't even know if these mutations are natural or the work of man. Could be Mist causing it, could be a scientist, could be toxic waste. We have no clue." And it is getting to Squall. Not having the answers is something he hates. He hates not being in control of a situation.

"Until we find that out, all we can do is keep fighting. So any aid you can give in finding these answers is most welcome."

[theftofhearts]

"If anyone can find out what and why, it will be a man like myself. Perhaps I can do some research, here in Garden, and Quistis and I can collaborate on a means of either halting the problem, or neutralizing the Malboros. Do you know of a way to condense magic? I have a manner of doing so, but to implement it wholly requires magicite, which I do not think is in abundance in and around Balamb."

Al-Cid thought about the Firecell in his pistol, there were others of other elements. Watercells, Thundercells, even Aerocells and Quakecells, which operated in much more abstract manners. Still, if they could make some sort of condensed Fire-bombs.. and lob them into the Malboros, that might do the trick on stopping them.. but that didn't help the other issue. "As for finding the source.. I do not know where to begin, usually I operate with some sort of lead.."

[takeoffmyhead]

Ifrit immediately came to Quistis' mind, but she could hardly count on him alone to defeat the entire Malboro invasion. She turned to look at Al-Cid, wondering what methods for magic he had himself. "No, we don't have that here but...I think we should be employing as many methods of attack as possible. As with the Malboro we encountered, it took a variety of strategies to defeat."

Quistis watched Squall for a moment, in danger of feeling as stressed as he looked. But still, she was determined. "Then what do you suggest we do in the meantime? Al-Cid and I can continue to collect information of attacks past and impending."

[leatheredlion]

"Esthar labs are trying to find out what caused the mutations." Thank goodness for fathers in high places! "If they can find the source then we can attack it directly. We have explosives to hand, but only a limited supply."

He rubbed at tired eyes, trying to will away the oncoming headache. "Quistis, I trust you enough for you to take the course of action you believe best."

[theftofhearts]

Al-Cid looked between Squall and Quistis, and took a small step back, removing himself from prominence and waiting to hear what Quistis would have to say. He was a strong person, able and capable, and what was more, he cared deeply for the blonde. That and more meant he wasn't going to jealously steal the spotlight when his place was better suited to operating in the shadows. The Rozzarian thought about how quickly he could have things assembled and distributed to the SeeDs afield, and absently began to scribble figures onto a piece of paper he produced from a pocket.

When he was satisfied with his math, he nodded softly, and gave a grim frown, walking over to Quistis and handing her the paper. He leaned in close, to whisper in her ear, "Judging from the current rate of expansion and what we have witnessed over the past few days, this problem will only escalate exponentially.."

[takeoffmyhead]

Quistis took the slip of paper silently from Al-Cid, bowing her head to take a quick look at his calculations. She sighed softly, scrunching the paper into a ball in her first before pressing it to the desk in front of Squall, in case he wanted to take a look. No disrespect to the man, at all, but a keen frustration over the situation.

Again, she sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead, thinking deeply, her words coming slowly, "We have to have all of Garden out. Cadets, instructors, everyone. And the message has to be passed on to the other Gardens. This can't wait any longer."