Train Station, Balamb, Tuesday Morning Fandom Time

[angelo_wings]

When Rinoa had received Tara's message, she had acted quickly. Her first call had been to Squall, and her second to Belle. She packed quickly left it to Squall to arrange the portal; he was quicker at organizing details than she could be, anyway.

Her house was depressing, and would mean talking to her father, which was complicated. So she had told Tara to meet her at Balamb Garden, which was currently docked near its original home on the island of Balamb. The flying school was big enough to allow for privacy; there were always extra students' quarters. And if she needed to get away from the crowd, they could take the Ragnarok out somewhere secluded.

For now, Rinoa was waiting just outside of the train station, where the portal was supposed to arrive. What if the portal didn't show up here, after all? Or what if it had shown up early and Tara had started wandering and gotten lost?

Okay, so Rinoa was worrying. Worrying was silly, so she was going to stop worrying and instead try waiting. The two didn't look much different to the untrained eye.

(for Tara (and Squall if he'd like as well) -- Squall and Tara-modding done with permission. NFB, since off-island.)

Comments

[life_inshadow]

Tara finally made it out of her portal and went over to catch Rinoa in a lopsided hug. "Thanks for having me," she said. "Did I make you miss class or anything?"

[angelo_wings]

"Only a couple," Rinoa said easily. Class was one thing, friends another. "It's summer term, I think those classes aren't the serious ones, anyway."

Her voice was light, but she was giving the hug an extra squeeze, and not letting go until Tara pulled back first.

"Was your portal okay?"

[life_inshadow]

"It was..." Tara scrunched up her nose. "Long. And it kind of smelled like stale beer. But it got me here."

Where she was very happy to be, judging from how hard she was clinging in that hug,

[angelo_wings]

Then they could totally just hang out here at the train station for a bit, hugging. Rinoa had nowhere to be.

"Smelly portals are the worst," Rinoa said. It was probably a stupid sentence, but she kind of felt like the point wasn't really what words she was saying right now. "You can take a long hot shower when we get back. Scrub off the portal-ick."

[life_inshadow]

"I'd love that," Tara said, reluctantly letting go of Rinoa and stepping back. "Where are we staying? I don't exactly remember if the school has dorms or ..."

Or anything, really. The important thing was that it was away.

[angelo_wings]

"Huge dorms," Rinoa nodded. She turned, reaching to place one guiding arm on Tara's back as she led them into town. Town was, thankfully, a tiny affair: a few blocks at most. The streets were sidewalks, with small houses and shops scattered around.

"Most cadets are placed two to a room, but SeeDs get singles. I got you one of the nicer suites. One of the perks of having friends in high places."

Translation: everybody still pretended that Squall was in charge, even though Squall had quit. So when he asked favors, they complied.

[life_inshadow]

Town was smaller, and that was refreshing after New York. Tara hadn't minded the city, but it was nice to have more room to breathe.

She flashed a smile. "And I bet you didn't even have to bribe anybody," she said. "Thanks. It's nice to be someplace quiet. I can hear myself think, now."

[angelo_wings]

"No bribes," she agreed. "I think Squall's going to end up having to talk to Quistis about ... important goings-on. He always does, when we come back. He'll blow it off and she'll go back to running things, like always."

One of these days, Quistis would realize she was doing a great job, stop second-guessing herself, and stop trying to press-gang Squall into taking his old job back. Maybe.

"The library's good for getting away from people," she added, "and also, well, books. But there's a balcony I should show you, up on the second floor. It's beautiful up there, when the ship's flying over the water. And nobody ever seems to go out there, either."

[life_inshadow]

"Let's go up on the balcony first," Tara decided. "I mean ... after I drop my stuff off, unless there's something else you need to do."

[angelo_wings]

"Nothing whatsoever," Rinoa said. "I already dropped my stuff in Squall's room, earlier. I should give you the grand tour at some point, so you can go wandering off without me if you'd like. But that can wait. And getting lost just means you grab someone in a uniform and ask them to take you to the Commander."

Considering that everyone here was in uniform, that most of them still considered Squall the Commander, and that the real Commander (Quistis) would know where to find her, that should cover her bases.

[life_inshadow]

Tara glanced around, taking in how ... yep, everyone in sight was wearing a uniform. "I shouldn't have a hard time doing that," she said lightly. "Oh! C-can I just call Squall, Squall here? Or is it, like, Commander Squall, sir?"

[angelo_wings]

"Oh, it's really just Squall," Rinoa said firmly. "He hated being called Commander even when he actually was Commander. He makes faces when people try to salute him. It's cute."

As the thought struck her, she added, "So if you get really bored and want to amuse yourself, start calling him that with a straight face and watch him try not to bitch about it."

Rinoa and Squall had levels to how dysfunctional their relationship was.

In the meantime, she was leading Tara around the first floor of the school, pointing out a few helpful things as they went.

"The school's a giant hub," she explained. "Important stuff around the rim, elevator in the middle. Cafeteria's over there, library's here, and this training room is where they go to gear up and fight monsters. So if you want to get some stress out by beating things up, let me know? You might want to take back-up, because sometimes this T-Rexaur shows up."

[life_inshadow]

"Will magic work in there?" Tara asked. She didn't normally beat things up as therapy, but ... "Something about trying to kill a fake dinosaur sounds really good right about now."

[angelo_wings]

"Magic totally works," Rinoa said with a grin. She stopped short in front of the entrance. "Want to head in there now? We can just drop our luggage in the locker room. Because taking down a fake dinosaur is every bit as awesome as it sounds."

She hoped Tara wouldn't mind that she was inviting herself along. She didn't doubt the other girl's skills, but the training room also didn't seem to bother with details like "safety protocols." Hence the in-house clinic.

It was really a sink-or-swim sort of school.

[life_inshadow]

"I think that is exactly the kind of day I need," Tara decided. "I can name the dinosaur cancer and pretend to be all tough."

She was excited. She felt guilty about it, but she was.

[angelo_wings]

"There are going to be grunts before we find the dinosaur," Rinoa announced cheerfully, leading Tara down an austere hallway. "You should come up with names for them, too. They'll be annoying one-hits so you might want to reuse the names."

The locker room had the same kind of cold, informal decor as the hallway. Probably to be expected, from a military school.

Rinoa, meanwhile, was distracted by an area over to the side.

"Do we want to grab weapons?" she asked. "We don't need to, magic works fine, but variety's nice. Sometimes you just want to hit things with a club."

Clearly, Rinoa would not be helping with the 'guilty' side of Tara's conscience.

[life_inshadow]

"W-we can do both," Tara said thoughtfully. "Hit the little guys with clubs, zap the big guys with magic. I have to say, this isn't what I thought we'd be doing ... but it's awesome."

[angelo_wings]

"If you'd rather do something else, we can," Rinoa said with an easy smile. "But Garden's got an infinite supply of monsters to cut through. It really shouldn't be this fun, but it is."

She grabbed a gunblade, herself -- she always wanted to try one out -- before waiting for Tara to make her selection.

And then, to lead Tara in to the actual training center itself. Which was, in sharp contrast to the clean, bare lines of Garden thus far, a lush, tropical jungle. It was a bit like having Triassic Gardens kept next to the cafeteria.

[life_inshadow]

Tara was blinking a bit as she walked in. "I'm confused," she said. "Is this real, or is it like the Danger Shop back at school, where it's really just fancy computer ... stuff."

She was such a technical person.

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa, herself, stopped, and glanced around.

"I have no idea," she said. "I always figured it was real, and they just kept monsters in here. I guess it could be like the Danger Shop? But I think it's really Esthar that's got the advanced tech like that. It's probably real."

The school was disturbingly hardcore like that. The final exam was a real-life mission. 'Surviving' played a key role in passing!

[life_inshadow]

"Seriously?" Tara was impressed. "I k-kind of never thought about that, that a school might just ... throw monsters at people for fun."

She bit her lip, mulling it over.

"Anyone ever get eaten?"

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa stopped, reaching over to put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure they don't let people come in here until they're old enough," she said confidently. "When they prove they can handle themselves. I've never heard of anyone getting eaten or anything like that. It's for the kind of fighty restless people who'd go crazy without something to spar against, like Squall. And Kennedy."

She wasn't sure if they were still ... a thing or not, but hopefully the comparison at least might make Tara smile. Because Kennedy would probably view this place like it was a candy store.

[life_inshadow]

Tara thought about it, and eventually came up grinning. Because yes, something like this would be amazing for Kennedy.

"Hopefully they have fight restless people on staff to feed them," she offered. "With ... dinosaur chow, I mean."

[angelo_wings]

"They used to let Squall run the place," Rinoa said with a laugh. "That should tell you a lot about the staff here."

She tried swinging the gunblade once or twice to get the heft of it in her hands. Nice.

"Ready?"

[life_inshadow]

"As I'm going to be," Tara said. "Get me out if anything tries to bite off anything I want to keep?"

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Squall answered, from behind Rinoa. He didn't make a move to hug Tara, but he offered a half-smile of encouragement. "But this is more important."

[life_inshadow]

Tara started to deny it, but couldn't. "It feels that way," she had to admit. "I mean, I could have stayed with Kennedy, but ... that would be a little weird, right?"

"Thanks," she added. "For coming."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged. "It would? If you say so." If she didn't want to stay with her girlfriend, that was her own business, and Squall wasn't going to judge. "You're welcome. Quistis agreed to let you stay for as long as you like, so make yourself at home."

[life_inshadow]

The way he said that made Tara realize he didn't know, so...

"We broke up," she explained, a bit too bluntly. "I'm -- sorry. I keep forgetting people don't really know. Anyhow, I'll probably just be here two or three days ..."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall blinked.

(Oh.)

He should... probably say something comforting. Or something. He'd just made an awkward situation more awkward, and that wasn't helpful, especially since Tara had come to get away from everything. "I didn't know," he said. "I'm sorry."

Should he hug her now? Pat her shoulder comfortingly? One hand moved a little, but he ended up deciding not to do anything with it. "As long as you like," he repeated. "Just stay until you want to leave."

[life_inshadow]

"It happens," Tara said softly. "But ... thank you. I'm glad you could come back with Rinoa and me."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged. "Why wouldn't I have? It's important."

Not that he was helping any, but he was pretty sure that him being here was important.

[life_inshadow]

Tara didn't have a good answer for that, so she shrugged. "I'm still glad you're here," she tried. "How's Fandom?"

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged. "It's Fandom. Nothing makes any sense, and then we all almost die. The usual."

It was a pretty comforting routine, if it could be called that.

[life_inshadow]

"Oh, uh ... at least you don't actually die?"

So, you know, Squall should cheer up.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

What? He was cheerful! "Yeah. It was scary for a bit, though. We could have used you."

[life_inshadow]

"To do what?" Tara asked, genuinely concerned. "I, um ... I haven't really talked to people, besides asking if I could stay with them."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged. "I dunno. Stuff. Magic stuff. I'm not really sure how we ended up winning this time; just that it involved magic or whatever. More magic always helps."

[life_inshadow]

"No, I mean -- what happened? Did something attack?" Tara's voice was concerned.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"...I'm not sure," Squall answered. And the fact that he wasn't pained him.

"An evil meteor spread an infection that turned people into monsters and couldn't be cured, even by magic. Rinoa almost..."

(I can't bear thinking about it.)

"Anyway, it's over now."

[life_inshadow]

"She didn't tell me," Tara frowned. "I'm sorry. That's horrible. I wish I could have helped."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"You weren't there," Squall answered with a shrug. "And you've had a bad summer, too."

[life_inshadow]

"Yeah, but ... I like helping. I couldn't, at home."

Tara gave a little hopeless shrug.