Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

[notthistrain.livejournal.com]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room. He told himself it was so that he could watch the bulletin, him still being fairly new and needing all the information he could get, but the thought rang hollow.

The real reason he was here, he knew, was because he would be out there. Maybe it was weak of him, but he needed a chance to breathe. Ever since he'd arrived it had been nothing but one shock after another, and seeing Zack standing in the cafeteria that morning talking to Aerith had been the final card that caused his tower to crumble. He needed to just sit back somewhere out of the way and start rebuilding.

Being able to watch the bulletin from here was just a perk. Cloud made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching people come and go but not really paying attention to them. He took the time to try and rate this on a scale of the biggest messes he'd ever gotten thrown into.

(for Sheena)

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[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

Mori just blinked in confusion when Anise kept flattering him, shaking his head slightly. Mitsukuni was far more impressive with his hand-to-hand combat. For his small size, he was able to throw Mori around like a rag doll and had done so on more than one occasion. To Mori, that was impressive. He only did what came naturally to him. A staff allowed him to make greater use of his height and his long arms, keeping enemies at a distance.

What Anise did sounded a lot more impressive. He wasn't sure what a fonist was, but a puppeteer? He knew that. Kind of. To think that Anise was able to make something else fight for her was pretty cool. But more than that, she was strong enough to wield a mace. A mace. Mori suddenly got the strange visual of tiny little Anise carrying a knight's iron spiked mace, clubbing mutated rats in the face.

Yeah, that was weird.

"Fonist?" he asked, looking for clarification of the one term he didn't understand. The rest was impressive enough, but to fully understand what she was capable of, he needed to know that one word.

[gald_digger]

At Mori's question, a small, sheepish smile crossed Anise's face. Right; someone from Earth would have no clue what a fonist was. She knew that, but it was hard to get used to that when it was such common knowledge where she came from. And what was even harder was that she couldn't explain it simply by talking about fonons, since he wouldn't know what those were, either.

"Hmm... I guess only people from Auldrant would know about fonists, huh? That's what we call people who can use fonic artes. It's... not exactly magic, but it might be easiest to think of it that way." Trying to explain fonons to someone who'd never heard of them would be too troublesome, after all. "Basically we can use, um... certain particles in the atmosphere to make attacks, like with fire or water. I only know how to use light and dark artes, though."

Did that make any sense? Anise studied Mori's face, wondering if he understood.

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

She was trying her best to explain what fonists were and so Mori did his best to understand. A fonist was only in her world, apparently, and someone who did something with fonic artes, which was a kind of magic. But it wasn't until she said something about using particles in the air that things started to click, causing Mori to lower his head slightly as he thought.

Fire, water, light, dark, likely air and some others, too. It was like concentrating the natural forces into a physical, controllable form. It all sounded so familiar for some reason, but he couldn't put his finger on why. But all in all, he understood, so when he looked back to Anise, he nodded, impressed with her skill. He could only imagine what sort of training that took to accomplish.

[gald_digger]

Anise studied Mori's expression. He seemed to understand, even if he only had the most basic of the basics. "Hehe. I guess Earth doesn't have anything quite like it, which makes it pretty hard to explain. What really sucks, though, is that I can't use any strong artes here. Some of the other skills I learned at the officers' school still come in handy, but..." Anise scooted a little closer to Mori's side of the couch. "I still feel a lot safer when I've got someone strong and cool by my side--"

But just as she started saying that, the intercom played its usual jingle, and the noon announcements began.

"--Aah! Of all the times to interrupt!" she snapped, glaring in the direction of the nearest speaker in sight. Startled, the kitten in her lap leaped to the floor and darted away, making Anise extra conscious of the outburst she'd just made. In an instant, she regained her composure and continued in a soft voice. "Ooh, I guess I'll have to see you later, then. Let's talk again sometime real soon, okay?" She tried to look up at Mori as she spoke, but since she had moved closer to him, their difference in height made that difficult.