WHO: Vivi Ornitier WHAT: Gathering friends. WHERE: Balamb Garden WHEN: After classes of Monday, June 22 WARNINGS: N/A
The return of Vivi Ornitier to classes the Monday following Red’s birthday was the cause of great interest and noise among his classmates. Faces had practically crowded around him to ask him what happened in the days he was out and to each of them, he gave a bashful nod and apology for his absence. “I wanted to come back as soon as I could, I really did, but I couldn’t!” Knowing Vivi’s attitude towards his academics, it wasn’t hard to believe this. A sick man could only do so much after all; the mind may be willing but if the body was weak, then there was little it could do about its ailments.
This was a logic that satisfied his classmates until their first instructor for the day came and they arranged themselves hurriedly to begin lessons. That Vivi had gotten lost in the midst of the action was easily attributed to his still-recuperating body. “Just take it easy for the day,” his next instructor advised him as he started to draw up presentations on the projector. “Instructor Xu told me all about your condition. We’ll figure out something about your grades but for now, just relax and if you have any questions, just raise your hand.”
Vivi didn’t despite being invited multiple times to take advantage of the privilege. For the most part, he only sat quietly in class and listened and observed while heads fell one by one around him until about half of them was threatening to rejoin their arms on their desks, but that was before the final bell rang. In a flurry of activity, cadets flew up to their feet and started packing up even before they were dismissed.
But Vivi stayed in his seat, watching curiously at the exodus, apparently disaffected by the joy of finally running out of the classroom. A tall girl patted him lightly on the shoulder and asked him what else he was doing in his seat.
“I want to do some advanced reading,” he said. And while the woman frowned at him like he was some strange creature, there was no reason for her to stick around, not even to be nice, so she left after a hasty goodbye. Silence marched gradually into the classroom until the last of his classmates left him to his devices.
The next time it shifted open, the immaculate figure of Al-Cid Margrace was stepping through. Vivi watched on in silence, eye to eye, neither of them keen to be the first to move a muscle, as if this was some test of endurance. Well, if it was, Vivi had never been suited up for success so he rose to his feet, gathered his belongings and marched to his waiting friend.
No words were exchanged between the both of them as they vacated the corridor with calm steps. It was as if the idea of being a part of a prestigious military academy had implanted their legs with the leaves of the handbook. Gone was the Al-Cid who relished the sound of his own footsteps or the Vivi who tripped all over himself. The last time the Garden saw that boy, he’d met up with Al-Cid in the middle of the lobby because there was something that the man had wanted to show him…
Both feet stopped as they surveyed the crowd in the outer hallway of the garden, making chairs of absolutely anything that was ready to take on their weight. Absentmindedly, he wondered, so this must be how a cat often felt when it viewed a fish tank from afar...
They glanced at each other briefly to confirm the other’s thoughts. Then Vivi ran towards one of his classmates to take her hand and tug her forward to her feet.
“Hey!” he said to his new friend. “Wanna see something really cool?”