Oerba Yun Fang ~ Pact Of Ruin (teardownthesky) wrote in missions, @ 2012-08-23 05:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! narrative, oerba yun fang |
... Anything you want I strive to be...
Who: Oerba Yun Fang (Mentions of: Beatrix, Vanille, Aerith, Lenande, Lightning, Edea, Cloud, Penelo, Irvine, Lenne.)
What: “Scratchings” – A narrative.
Where: Girls Dorm – Room 519. (Fang’s room)
When: Late Wednesday/Early Thursday
Rating: PG (? – Mentions of riots, trampling, violence, death, funerals.)
Status: Complete
The pen scratched at the paper below it. Line after line of ink was layered on the same section, making the curvature of the singular line look rough, uneven to some extent and thick. Each stroke of the pen hid something that laid there before and would be hard to ever retrieve. When they were little, the schoolhouse in Oerba taught them as much as it could. Thankfully, with the random influx of people, each having a special set of skills, their education actually hadn't been that bad. In fact, Fang might even venture as far as calling it good. Of course, they'd gotten the basics; reading, writing, arithmetic but pieces of technology, science, legend and even some art had been mixed in. While Fang had never been a fan of participating in the music type courses, her fingers while skilled weren't good enough to play an instrument well and the memorization and movements felt like they countered the knowledge she'd gained from other ventures in life. However, the feeling of a pen in hand had been comfortable. Drawing, while she had no significant skill of mention, she'd taken a liking too. Admittedly, she could manage some things okay enough and if she spent significant amounts of time worrying and going back over fine details, she could actually make a decent drawing. However, what it would take someone who had skill in drawing a few hours, would take Fang days. It was actually funny how quickly she'd been able to pick up dancing from Beatrix, but honestly, Fang attested that to Beatrix's unique teaching style on the matter and additionally she hadn't been that great with it either when it came to the actual event. Others had clearly surpassed her in technique and could probably dance rings around her with their smooth and graceful moments. Fang could take care in matters, she could be fast (in bursts), strong and sturdy but graceful was hard. Late at night, when left to her own devices and not allowed to fall into the grip of slumber by racing thoughts, Fang often found herself contemplating things of past, present and future. Tonight's past was the old school house; tonight's future was a brief consideration of what she might be doing today if she hadn't wanted to take on Vanille's guardianship. A drawer? A hunter? Perhaps... Even joining an airship crew? The concept of adventuring off on a flying ship actually did sound rather appealing. Though, if Vanille hadn't been in her life, Fang would have, undoubtedly, been a very, very different person. And the present landed her back, firmly, in reality. What they had learned in the past would help them now and while it was curious to think of what might have been, it clearly would not be. They had no walked down a path to make those options available to them. Vanille had chosen to take on the pilgrimage and Sorceress training and upon finding out about this; Fang had taken on the role of one preparing for Guardianship. Not that she ever breathed a word of this. In Galbadia, it was a dangerous thing to admit a desire to support and protect magic, not so much for herself, but more so due to a deep seated desire to protect Oerba. A hand reached up, scratching at the back of her head, eyes would be pointed towards the paper that the pen continued to lazily drag along, but she was no longer taking in what was actually on the paper. Magic. Sorceresses. Materia. Aeons. SOLDIER. Guardians. White SeeD. The ten people contacted for help. There were so many pieces. It was hard to plan, to figure out something that would incorporate all the pieces, when there was so little knowledge of any given piece. A long discontented breath was released. Her magic and Materia progress, while it could be better, was nothing to sneeze at. Between her constant lessons with Aerith and Lenande, she'd managed to get fire, lightning, cure, cure 2, poisona and esuna in the past few months. The elemental strikes served her better than the spells themselves but they were also harder to do since it required an extended period of focus instead of the brief and instant flash of a spell going off. Thankfully, Lenande seemed determined that she master the strikes before even thinking about moving on to more advanced magical spells. It was a frustrating but appreciated gesture. She'd started working on regen with Lenande at the beginning of this month but progress on that had been slow. If she were to use herself as a damage soaker, having Regen would be vital. Would it be possible to learn before the mission? As desperately as Fang wanted to, she was uncertain how likely that was. She’d also need to figure out when to mention the new letter to Lenande, implementing a time line for her and Vanille’s cover story as well. The whole point in coming to Balamb was to increase her magical aptitude and so far, it had been working well but there was always concern for the possible plateau of ability. Even with all the work, she'd done with classes and outside of class the set of spells, she had access to seemed meager in comparison to what many of the other cadets could manage. Admittedly, this wasn't taking into consideration her natural affinity towards status effects and the two elements that seemed easy to use, air and water. Did the White SeeD require further comprehension of all fields? Probably not, however, it wouldn't hurt to obtain as much as possible to become a better combatant, a greater threat, on the field of battle that felt so close to home. Eyes unconsciously narrowed as her brain wrapped around the concept of the White SeeDs. The words of their purpose were still eerily haunting from their one meeting. It was almost as if they had read the conversation she had, had through the GNC with Lenande. Could they have? With all the other information they seemed to have, it would surprise Fang if they had indeed hacked into the GNC. While she had assured someone else that hacking the accounts probably wouldn't be easy or likely back when Vanille had stolen her comm.. The White SeeDs seemed like the type of group that was probably capable of it. Or... Perhaps on a more worrisome note, was Lenande possibly in league with the White SeeD? Had she told them? What did the White SeeD want them to do...? Lightning alluded to Edea being a lead and the sorceresses were in her holdings. The White SeeDs confirmed that but... What if the sorceresses where being kept there as a safety measure against some of the other predators that sought to capture them? What if this speech of Edea's was to call out some unnamed threat? What if they were tasked with protecting Edea while also assigned to her execution? Where they to turn on the other members of Balamb for that? And what if they weren't? Did the White SeeDs know there wasn't a back up plan for the girls in Edea's holding? What if there was? What if Edea was conspiring with more people than even the White SeeDs could even follow? Even with their ridiculous ability to gather information, they couldn't know everything. How many Sorceresses would be at this hold? Were they to be tasked with evacuating all or just a select few? If they were only to retrieve a few, couldn't that compromise the safety of the rest? A low rumbling noise of displeasure was choked off in the back of Fang's throat before it fully emerged. Fingers began to drum against the desktop, the noise muted due to them tapping against discarded sheets of paper. Things Fang had started to write and then discarded, ripping them out of the notebook she'd been keeping and letting them stack one on top of the other. Further to their left was a stack of textbooks on Materia studies, Materia theory, extended reading on Materia. Really, Fang had been far behind many of her other peers on the matters upon arrival and was probably effectively in remedial courses for someone of her age and year regarding the topics of elemental and curative types. There was also a good section of support Materia she was completely clueless on how to use. She'd glanced over the items, remembered their names and functions but it didn't make her capable of using any of it. They were going to save all the girls in the hold. Fang had no other doubts about this. Ever since finding out Vanille was a Sorceress candidate, Fang had a certain... Soft spot for all Sorceresses and she was very careful who she admitted that to. Though, if anyone ever bothered watching her, paying any attention to how she treated each Sorceress she came in contact with, there was always a definite air of respect and concern for each and every one. Maybe it was just trained into her after all these years, after knowing a Sorceress and a Sorceress candidate for most of her life but... They had life hard enough, they needed more people on their side in life and Fang was more than willing to be one of those. However, they were up against a Sorceress now. One with four Aeons and a SOLDIER contingent to protect her. The tapping of fingers finally halted and the hunter reached for a desk drawer, pulling it open and eyeing the book Lenande had lent her regarding a traveler coping with Aeon related memory loss. She'd forgotten to bring it to their sessions this week, as there had simply been too much on her mind. Admittedly, she wasn't finished reading it, but after everything that had happened, and the ruckus that had been raised last week, Fang wouldn't be surprised if Lenande wanted the tome back. It would make sense and be a sign of respect to return the item. Holding her breath silence permeated through the room for a moment, nothing could be heard. Nothing from Vanille, no Rosa in the bathroom, no lost student in the hall... Not that it was early enough for any students to reasonably be in the hall either. It was past lock down. Sighing, fingers dipped into the drawer and stroked over the cover of the book. So far, the hunter had managed to make it about 3/4th's of the way through the text and the story was... Disheartening at best. That wouldn't matter though Fang had made her decision. Eventually she'd forget her parents, their faces, their eyes, smiles and voices but she'd be better at protecting. As much as her heart ached, importance should be placed on the living, not the dead. A brief frown flashed over her face with consideration before the drawer was quietly and carefully pushed shut again. She'd attempted to keep the book away from Vanille, not reading it around the younger woman in hopes of keeping the secret of the memories she was sacrificing, or would be in the future, to protect the other. Certainly, it'd make Vanille even sadder. Right now, she had those memories though, and she'd write them down, draw them out. Recant stories to herself and try to force the facts into her memories as much as possible. If she made the small details large of her parents and Oerba then maybe they would stay. Wait. What if the White SeeD was aligning their shipping off for the Sorceress rescue (as that seemed the only reasonable thing Fang could think they'd be doing) with a possibly retreating Edea? To follow her or, perhaps to make sure she was heading off in a different direction so that the hold would be clear? ... The hunter had considered the idea of the White SeeD wanting Edea out of the way before moving to breach her territory but... Hadn't thought about how far they could possibly take it. A low "Mm" slipped out and a hand reached up, rubbing at tired eyes. SOLDIER would be another matter. While they may be Mako enhanced, they were still just men and women who would bleed when cut and fall when broken. While she didn't know if Cloud was previously SOLDIER specifically or not, it was good to have trained against someone with Mako enhancements, gave her a better idea of what to expect and how to counter it. That guy could hit hard though, Fang wasn't entirely sure, if things really went to shit, how long she could stand up against one, or possibly more, of those types hammering at her. If it came down to it, she'd rely on Penelo, or another white magic focused person, to keep up with the curative magics while she summoned Valefor. Though, it was curious if there was going to be a huge crowd gathered for such a speech or if everyone was going to run and hide after the actions that had kicked off Midgar's riots. If there was a crowd, how many innocent people were likely to die? Of course, in the best-case scenario, no one would. However, even in that instance, Irvine taking out Edea in one shot, there was a good chance the crowd would panic and people could possibly die due to a stampeding crowd or SOLDIER retaliation depending on if they had defected due to personal reasons or if Edea was somehow controlling them.... But if she was controlling them then, how? A specialized confuse spell perhaps? Would that even make sense? If they had defected of their own free will though... What had Edea told them to make them change their minds? It would have to be a powerful piece of information. Assuming, it wasn't some elaborate threat to kill them and everything they had ever held dear.... If that was the case, Fang's heart went out to them. No one should ever be stuck in that place. It was one thing to have your own life threatened but another entirely to have those you loved face the burden as well. If it was information though, and if White SeeD did want the group in place to possibly, protect Edea. There would have to reasons and... Fang found herself hard pressed to not want to protect Edea in that circumstance. Even if her actions had caused riots and would probably end up hurting people she cared about in one way or another but... The President was dead... Former president. A man she'd personally detested for various reasons but never spoke a word of. While Fang tended to shirk political based conversations and commentary, the hunter had some very definite opinions on these matters and most things Galbadia related deserved to die in a fire as far as she was concerned. Finally, feeling frantic thoughts beginning to subside and tiredness really setting in her eyes were able to take in the contents of the page which had been idly run over by the pen time and time again to find nothing but a bunch of nonsensical lines on the page. An annoyed huff of air slipped out, the pen was lightly placed to one side and the book front was lifted, allowing it to drop closed with a low thud as the cover impacted the paper. With a shake of her head, eyes caught the corner of a letter she’d yet to send out poking from below a book. Tomorrow a trip down to Balamb the town would be required for sending that out to a long time… acquaintance and picking something up from a local shop. Fang also needed to finish her letter to the spear master, addressing his question about her parents… Properties. It was difficult to answer. Far harder than she’d been expecting but apparently, since she was now both twenty and going to be traveling on official Guardian duty soon, the elders of the village had decided it was finally time to turn over their belongings to her fully. Then there was the matter of Vanille’s former Guardians funeral. The bodies had been retrieved and set to rest with proper honors. Fang hadn’t mentioned any of it to Vanille, unsure of how to even bring up such a topic without causing the other sadness, even if the hunter knew she eventually would have to. At least two things had been removed from her plate at this point, both thanks to a talk with Vanille. Which lead Fang to wonder, could she, or would she ever, be the calming force, the strong beam of support that Vanille could rely on to keep her safe and take care of the other woman in all instances that Fang wanted to be? Certainly, being Vanille’s new Guardian, she was trusted far enough to keep the younger woman physically safe but… Would Vanille ever trust Fang with her emotions fully? Could Fang be a source of Vanille’s strength? Considering the circumstances, perhaps she’d never know. Another frown pulled at her lips with a long sigh. Fingers interlaced, the back of her head then resting against them for a moment. The hunter would have to have her head together better than this if she was going to put up any sort of real fight against Beatrix or Lenne's Aeon(s?) later. Silence seemed the only response that would come as the chair was twirled around, hands fell down to her sides and she stood, moving to get ready for bed. |