buying yourself a birthday gift

[unshelledbullet]

Who: Squall Leonhart and anyone who is out and about
Where: Nostalgia Nook
When: August 14th, afternoon
Style: Opening with prose, feel free to change
Status: Open like his heart

It's not every day a big round sphere threatens the lives of yourself and those around you. And after everything that's happened, Squall doing something he doesn't do very often: taking a break. Unless it's an emergency, he's not handling any Defense Force stuff today. Instead, he's in the Nostalgia Nook. The twenty-third is coming up soon, and he's going to get himself something while he has time.

He's studying their fine selection of Triple Triad cards. Pretty closely.

And maybe he's glancing at some cards from other worlds as well.

Comments

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Guess who's taking a break, too?

Rinoa hasn't actually been over to the Nook yet. She's been meaning to come over, but something else always got in the way. Work, friends, mini-crises... rampaging hamster balls...

But today is the day! Still recovering from the battle, Rinoa's determined to enjoy the peaceful lull that's come over the city. And really, shopping is the best kind of therapy after such a gruesome battle.

Imagine her surprise when she heads into the Nook and finds the quiet Commander perusing a shop. Curious, she walks over and peers over his shoulder to get a look at what he's browsing.]

Triple Triad even managed to find its way here. Find any good cards?

[unshelledbullet]

[Out of all the possible people who could catch him here looking for cards, it had to be Rinoa. The person he wanted to find him the least. Squall nearly drops the cards he's holding, though they do manage to slip a bit in his fingers as he nearly jumps with surprise.]

A couple.

[There's a Brothers card, for example. He had one before, but coming to Vatheon meant that he had to start over with his collecting.]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[Oh ho, she managed to surprise him. That's something of a feat.]

Looking to start up another collection, huh?

[She steps around him to get a more proper look. Not the best collection, but yes, she does spot a few decent ones amongst the piles.]

What's the occasion? Boredom?

[unshelledbullet]

[She gave him an out with the boredom line, but he misses it and instead gives her the honest answer.]

Birthday.

(1/2)

[sorcery_fledgling]

Oh! That's -

[Wait...]

(2/2)

[sorcery_fledgling]

[...birthday? It's his birthday?

....]

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING?

[ldfjsklfjslfkjskljf All the mental plans to run out and find a cake and a present and a card!]

[unshelledbullet]

Calm down.

[Really, Rinoa. He doesn't expect you to get him gifts or cakes if you don't know when his birthday is!]

It's not today. It's the twenty-third.

[He's just looking at cards today because he doesn't know if he'll be able to later.]

[sorcery_fledgling]

[She assumed it was today and there's so little time in a day!]

Oh. [Phew.]

Still! That's just a little over a week! You planning on anything for it?

[Creeping feeling she already knows the answer to that.]

[lucentpalisade]

There is a very adventurous little kitty romping along the way to the Nostalgia Nook. Little kitty, black and silver patterned with a round belly indicating he's pretty well feed. If not a wee bit too much. Apparently the tiny hunter is hunting a butterfly, while his quiet owner follows along behind intently, with equal interest.

So much so that she doesn't say anything when the kitten accidentally romps a little too much, overextending a jump and tumbles right into the back of Squall's shoes. He... Probably... doesn't even feel that does he?

[unshelledbullet]

Squall feels...something, but he figures he was just imagining things at first and replaces the cards he's looking at back on the shelf. He doesn't want any of those. He turns around to look at the opposite shelf and lifts his foot and oh no! He's going to crush the kitty!

Except not because he just happens to look down and see it.

Who let an animal in here?

[lucentpalisade]

Nooooooo, not the kitty, it is an innocent in this!

Oh little Tiger Festival has no idea how close he came to losing one of his kitty lives. Only without actually losing a kitty life. The kitten shakes his head and looks up- up- uuuuuuuuup at Squall. "Mew?"

The culprit for letting a kitten into the Nostalgia Nook, on the other hand, is the girl with ridiculously long hair, who had gotten momentarily distracted by the number of THINGS in the place, turning her attention to the kitten at the 'mew'.

[unshelledbullet]

Mew. Very eloquent, little feline. He knows not that he could have been crushed by a lion's mighty paws.

Squall kneels down and picks up the cat. He's always liked cats more than dogs, and not just because lions are his favorite animal. Cats were independent creatures, they didn't need constant attention like dogs did.

He's just going to assume the cat wandered in and makes his way over to the door of the Nostalgia Nook. Should he just let it out or...?

[lucentpalisade]

Hey. Hey. That guy is going to steal her cat! How rude! Maybe he thinks Tiger Festival didn't belong to anyone. The kitten offers no complaint as the tall man picks him up, because Asbel picks him up and gives him attention. However as Squall makes his way towards the door, Sophie moves to intercept, looking first to the kitty, and then to Squall.

"What are you doing?"

[unshelledbullet]

Squall has one hand on the door when he hears Sophie's voice, kitten carefully cradled in one arm.

"This yours?"

[lucentpalisade]

Tiger Festival is totally chilling too, his little paws patting at the coat. Weeeiirrd. Sophie nods once to Squall, though she's still watching him curiously. "His name is Tiger Festival. I found him." Pause. No, she should amend that. "He found me."

[blitz_acing]

Tidus is pretty much wandering around aimlessly; that's why he finds himself in the Nostalgia Nook. Since he's there, he figures he might as well find out if they have anything related to Blitzball around...until he sees Squall. Distracted, he forgets what he was doing, and goes to approach him.

"See anything interesting?"

[unshelledbullet]

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of choices today. Most of these cards he already has. Collecting is much more tedious when you have to wait for the Nostalgia Nook to get new stock. Squall puts down a card he's holding when he realizes he's being spoken to.

Oh, it's Tidus.

Squall swings a fist at the blond's gut.

I'm sorry for being late!

[blitz_acing]

Tidus makes a mental note not to upset Squall again anytime soon. He stumbles back, not just caught off guard, but out of breath. That had hurt. Then, he remembered the whole conversation behind it and glances up, before straightening his posture.

"...You must punch people a lot."

No problem!

[unshelledbullet]

"I don't." You see, Tidus, he isn't a pugilist. That's Zell's job! "But you seemed to really want me to hit you."

And who is he to say no? Squall pauses and tilts his head slightly to one side. "Do you need a Cure?" Considering the similarities between their two worlds, he's going to assume they have similar names for magic as well.

[champ_coordinator]

"Greetings, friend. How are you this fine afternoon?" Wallace gave him a friendly smile.

[unshelledbullet]

Upon being addressed, Squall turned to the stranger. "Fine." He paused for a moment to look him over. He's pretty sure he's never seen this person before, he'd probably remember someone who looked like that. "Sorry, but have we met?"

[champ_coordinator]

"No, we haven't. I just thought I'd say hello, since we are both in Vatheon now. I have just arrived. How about yourself?" Wallace gave him a smile. He was just a friendly guy.

[unshelledbullet]

Let's see. How long as Squall been here? Well, it's August and he arrived in...October of last year he believes. "Almost ten months now," he replied. Even he has gotten used to it by now.

[champ_coordinator]

"Ten months? Ah. Have you gotten a feel for the place?" He studied the young man.

[unshelledbullet]

He nods. "I have. It's not very much like what I'm used to." While Vatheon wasn't exactly what most people would call "normal," for Squall, it was his first real venture into living like a regular person.