Apartment Above Groovy Tunes, Friday Morning, Before Classes

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa should have talked to Squall. That would have been the easy, logical choice, right? Talk to Squall, tell him what was going on, ask to borrow Quezacoatl.

Except ...

Except Squall didn't understand. He couldn't. He didn't know what it was like, not knowing who or even what you were. He might have said no, or I'll think about it, or only if I come with you.

Leland Gaunt knew what it meant, to be somebody who didn't understand a whole part of yourself. She was helping him, and he was helping her. Squall would have just -- messed it up somehow. Even if he didn't mean to. Even if he meant for the best. And he did mean for the best. He always did.

So Rinoa had waited until Squall was asleep, and she had Junctioned Quezacoatl. It had been easy. Now all she had to do was go to the store, and she could let Leland borrow him in exchange for her borrowing that book.

That book ... she couldn't begin to imagine what secrets might be inside it.

She hadn't slept well, so she'd risen early in order to make breakfast. That was totally normal. Not a guilty move at all. Breakfast was an important meal.

(Post and conversation are FB, except for the bit where she Junctioned Quezacoatl -- that's NFB.)

Comments

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

When Squall woke up, he -- as he did most mornings -- laid in bed for a few moments with his eyes closed, went over the day's upcoming events, Junctioned his Guardian Forces, and then opened his eyes and got up. Except... today, his favorite GF wasn't there.

It wasn't like he needed every GF, but... He always Junctioned Quezacoatl. Rinoa didn't need to Junction anymore, and he wasn't sure if his friends back home could take a GF from so far away. Sure, the godlike beings were free to leave his head if they wanted... but they didn't.

He walked out of the room with a frown on his face. "Hey," he greeted Rinoa. "You didn't Junction Quezacoatl this morning, did you?"

[angelo_wings]

"Hey," Rinoa said, jumping at the sound of his voice. She dropped the butter knife, and it clattered on the counter. Deep breath, Rinoa.

"Junction?" she asked, looking at him like she didn't understand. Her voice sounded odd to her own ears. "I don't exactly need to Junction any more, Squall."

That wasn't a lie. Technically. So why did she feel like throwing up?

"Is something wrong?"

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"I don't know yet," Squall answered. "Quezacoatl is missing. If you didn't take him, then I don't know where he is." He crossed his arms, frustrated. "Do you think Jono would have Junctioned him?"

[angelo_wings]

"I don't know if Jono even knows how," Rinoa said, which was true. "And he would have asked first, anyway."

So would she, in any situation other than this one.

"Maybe you've misplaced him," she said, lifting her shoulders in a careless shrug. "Maybe he had somewhere he had to go."

Maybe your girlfriend stole him.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"He's not a thing that you can misplace!" Squall growled. "It's not like he fell between the sofa cushions, or behind the bookshelf! He's not with me, so he must be with someone else!"

Squall harrumphed. "And if he left, he would have let me know."

[angelo_wings]

"You don't know that," Rinoa insisted, her emotions twisting in the pit of her stomach. She felt instinctively like lashing out, when he used that tone, but he was right to be angry. Dammit. "Maybe he couldn't reach you! Maybe something came up. Calm down."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"What could have 'come up'? I doubt there's anything he could want that's more important than protecting you. And if there were, he would have woken me up!"

(...Wouldn't he?)

Squall paced over to the wall and propped himself against it to think. "Someone could have Drawn him from me. I don't like this."

[angelo_wings]

"It isn't Quezacoatl's job to protect me," she said, and then frowned again. "Can he wake you up, if he needs to? I don't know that he's ever tried."

She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm just saying, don't -- panic unless you know there's a reason to panic. Maybe someone from Garden Drew him."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"I'm not panicking," Squall grumbled.

"Even if someone from Garden were able to take him from there, they wouldn't, not without telling me." He shook his head. "There's too much about GFs we don't know."

He stared at the floor some more, thinking. And absolutely NOT brooding or sulking.

"Be careful," he ordered. "Until we know for sure what happened, we have to assume the worst. Do you feel as though any of your magic power has been siphoned off?"

[angelo_wings]

He was upset, and feeling protective of her. All of which made her feel worse. She should put Quezacoatl back. Nothing was worth this.

She could see the book's cover, swimming before her.

Borrowing. She was borrowing Quezacoatl. She would explain, when she'd finished reading the book, and when she had him back safely. And he might be upset but hopefully he would forgive her, and she would know, then, so much more about herself.

It was awful that she was doing this. She knew that. She just couldn't seem to make herself stop.

"I'm fine," she said softly. "Squall, I'm sure nothing happened to Quezacoatl. He's strong. He can take care of himself. Maybe something just came up."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Something didn't 'just come up'," Squall growled. "I've had him since before I met you! He and I have an affinity! If there were a reason he had to leave, I would know! Weak platitudes are pointless."

[angelo_wings]

"Your affinity isn't helping you find him, now is it?" Rinoa snapped. This was her fault, it was totally unfair to yell at him, but he didn't know that, and he was being such a jerk about it. Like somehow, Quezacoatl outranked her, because he'd had him longer, and like she was being stupid just to try to be moral support.

But then he always thought she was stupid, didn't he? Like her whole resistance movement. They'd been brave, and they'd been trying, and he'd just rolled his eyes at how badly they'd done. Which hadn't even been the point.

"You know, I was just trying to help. But if you don't want my help, then go ahead and find him yourself."

She was going to just grab her keys and leave. They could have this out later. After she'd gone to talk to Mr. Gaunt.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Come back!" Squall growled. "I can't find him myself, but maybe you could. With... magic. Somehow."