tidesin | The Gathering

Entry tags:

The Gathering

IC
Characters: EVERYBODY
Summary: It's been a year since Chaos was defeated and the world was saved. So, naturally, it's time for a reunion party, right?
Location: Lindblum Grand Castle
Date: November 1st, 1806
Style: Up to you!

About two weeks ago, an invitation was sent out via skyphone to all of the sky people of Gaia- and a select few natives, too. It invited everyone to Lindblum, for a one year anniversary celebration of Garland's defeat. Such an event couldn't pass by without a celebration, after all. Yesterday, airships had been sent out to the far corners of the world to pick up everyone and bring them to Lindblum. Even the most reticent and party-hating of adventurers won't be able to avoid this. It is a worldwide celebration. Besides, it's best to celebrate with friends.

The Lindblum castle is covered in decorations for the occasion. Most are plain and themed for the upcoming winter, though for some reason, moogles feature rather prominently. Tables set around the ballroom are covered with snacks and foods, from snowmen to more moogles to- are those cookies shaped like Garland on a chobobo? ... Maybe it's best not to ask.

In the center of the ballroom is a clear space for dancing, and musicians sit off to the side and play for those who want to dance. To the side, there are tables for those who are looking for a simple conversation or who are taking time to eat. And, of course, for those who want to get away from everything for a while, there are always places in Lindblum to slip away to. But why would you want to do that, when everyone is here?

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[Though there's been precious little call for SeeDs these past years - and thankfully few complaints about the Sorceresses already present, as well - Squall hasn't precisely been taking a well earned vacation. There's still the day-to-day life of running the Garden, not to mention the fact that there will always be Sorceresses on Gaia now, and so there will always be need for SeeD. Unfortunately, he's never had any particular gift at recruiting, but slowly and surely new blood has been trickling in.

For now, however, the Garden is parked outside of Lindblum, since there's scarcely room for it inside. Squall might not be much of the partying sort, but even he knows better than to ignore one of this scope. Even if he only sort of knows what to do at parties and thus has something of a tendency to lurk quietly around the edges.

Ellone is honestly surprised to see Squall here, but she supposes that is due to Rinoa's influence and she makes a note to thank the girl later. For now, though, she approaches her brother with a bright smile on her face, having dropped Slai off for a moment with Raine.

"Squall!" she calls once she's close enough to be heard, waving at him as she heads over.

It's entirely possible Rinoa's had a hand in getting Squall to show up. Squall, however, is neither going to confirm nor deny this fact. He's present, and as far as he's concerned, that's more than enough for the time being.

Which is not to say he ignores Ellone. It would take something far more serious than this to force him to do that much, and so he offers a nod and something generally approximating a smile as she approaches. It's good to see her again.

She would figure as much. Hope he's gotten used to hugs by now because he's going to get one as soon as Ellone's close enough. "I'm glad you made it!"

He may never be entirely used to hugs. He has, however, grown at least somewhat more used to them over the last year and so there's less awkwardness to it then there might have once been. He doesn't really return it, but that's perhaps to be expected.

"Hard to miss something like this."

Ellone didn't expect him to, but she had to offer one anyway. Regardless, she didn't keep it long and let go soon after so she could offer him a sly and teasing smile. "Did Rinoa come with you?"

"She's here," Squall answered with a nod. Where precisely she was was something he wasn't keeping track of, but that was simply the nature of parties. She'd always been the more outgoing of them anyway; if she wanted to spend her time talking to people, it wasn't right for Squall to keep her from doing so.

"Good. I'll have to find her, too." And she would. As far as she was concerned, Rinoa was part of the family now and she needed to be treated like that. "Do you know who else is here? I've been busy watching Slai all day." Not that she minded, but it meant she didn't often have time to track people down.

"I haven't really been looking," Squall answered with a shrug. Admittedly, part of this was due to the fact that he'd only recently arrived, but even then there was significantly more room for people here than there'd ever been in the Garden and as such people generally got to be harder to find. It wasn't anything he generally figured to be worth getting bothered over though. If people wanted to find him, he'd never been hard to find and that was enough for him.

"Neither have I," Ellone laughed. "I've been too busy looking after Brooke and Slai."

Not that she minded. That was part of her Big Sis duty these days, after all, and she cherished every moment of it.

As far as Squall was concerned, she could keep both the title and the duties. Not simply because he had a Garden to run, but also because he was pretty sure he wouldn't have had the patience to deal with young children. He barely even understood them!

"They've been busy?"

Ellone nodded with a soft laugh. "Especially Brooke. I don't think she knows how to sit still!"

Well... that general idea was something that Squall was familiar with. It was simply that he'd mostly seen it on people his age, largely due to having spent more time with them. But it certainly wouldn't be entirely unlikely that she'd settle down... right?

"She'll... get there?"

It doesn't take Raine long to spot her son hanging out on the fringes of the crowd. It does, however, take her some time to collect her wiggly toddler for the umpteenth time and pull her down from the newest climbing acquisition... which is usually a person. Brooke isn't fond of this brand of containment, but Raine's patience is starting to wear.

Which doesn't stop her from breaking out into a warm smile when she finally gets her chance to approach Squall, or issuing a one-arm hug.

Squall's own smile is perhaps a little less radiant, when Raine finally approaches, but there's something there all the same. Even if he's still a little uncertain about the idea of both having a family and a sibling, a year without any major fighting has meant that he's had at least somewhat more free time. Free time that has not always been spent with the Garden, although it's probably still less than Raine would prefer.

He doesn't return the hug, even now, but he's less awkward about it then he might been, once.

She notices straight away that it's slightly less awkward and is all the happier for it. Sometimes it hurts to know they are not as close as they should have been. However, Raine is determined to remedy that, even if it takes half her lifetime to get there. That is one thing they all have more of now, time. No more vanishings or crazy people trying to butcher half the world.

Brooke immediately recognizes the familiar face and while she's not come up with a baby version of his name yet, it doesn't stop her from lunging for Squall with grabby hands.

"How have you been?" Please no stories of wild derring do. His line of work is enough of a heart stopping fear as it is. "You're not overworking are you?"

No more vanishings or crazy people trying to destroy the world for now. Squall's seen far too much to assume that things will be calm forever. Sooner or later someone will try something, and then either SeeD or any of variety of other people will be called in to deal with the problem. He's fairly certain Raine doesn't want to hear such things though, and so he doesn't comment, even when Brooke lunges for him.

(She's still an odd addition to the family he never expected, but he's getting better about the idea of having a baby sister.)

"Alright." There's a shrug to go with his words, which seems to imply that things are at least comparatively boring, after the various battles to save the world. He doesn't answer the question about overworking, though. He probably is, at least a little, to be honest.

"Enjoying yourself, Commander?"

Quistis appeared beside him with a drink in each hand, smiling as she wordlessly held one out and offered it to him. She, too, was something of a lurker when it came to parties, though while Squall preferred to tuck himself away in a corner, Quistis tended to smile and listen and put on her best manners should she be approached.

For a moment, all she could think of was the last time they were together at a gathering like this. The memory was so embarrassing now, though at the time it had been painful. Things had changed since then, however, and they both knew better.

"You look like you'd rather be anywhere but here."

Thus far, Squall wasn't entirely sure if he was enjoying himself or not. His general stance on parties aside, he'd only recently arrived and he wasn't entirely sure if a victory celebration - or a celebration on the anniversary of victory - was supposed to be any different from the normal sort of things parties were held for. There wasn't much sense in asking, though. Who would have bothered to explain if he had?

Instead, he took the offered drink without so much as a second thought. No one needed to be forced to deal with his occasional awkwardness in any and all party-related situations.

"SeeD should have at least some presence here."

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The Gathering

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