YE WHO ENTER, PREPARE TO BE PUNCHED

[bufudine]

Who: You, you and YOU! Anyone who is up for some good ol' sparring/training/getting their face beaten in
Where: In the park
When: All week, starting on the 20th!
Style: Anything goes!
Status: OPEN


It's a good week in the bubble! ...Then again, every week is fairly pleasant, temperature wise, in this little city under the sea.

But!

This week is extra pleasant, because there are training dummies set up all over the field in the park, all ready and waiting to be smacked around or smashed into itty bitty bits. Oh, but if hitting dummies aren't your thing, there are also targets for the archers and marksmen who want to get some target practice set up at the north end, cordoned off so people don't accidentally wander into the line of fire. And for those who'd rather play it safe or would like start learning the art of battle, there are plenty of practice weapons in... wheelbarrows? at the corners of the field.

Well, okay, this week would actually be unpleasant if you use the park for some peace and quiet. But for everyone else wanting to get some good old fashioned sparring and training in, this week's a great time to do it!

Comments

[unshelledbullet]

[That's right. Squall also nods to confirm her math.]

I started when I was six years old.

[Which was extremely young. Most students don't enter Garden until they're much older.]

[teradine]

[Six... years old. It's hard for Argilla to picture, since the only children she even knows are Fred and his friends. And she hadn't even bothered to ask them their ages.

But nevertheless, she goes with it, assuming all children to be of a similar height.]

That's normal, then...? Did you have a war to fight as well?

[Were they that desperate, or just that eager to train them young...

Curious, curious.]

[unshelledbullet]

A conflict's been happening, but it's recent. It started only a short time before I was brought here.

[He wonders how that's going. Of course, like everyone else, he's heard that time doesn't progress in your world while you're here, and Rinoa and Selphie seem to confirm that. But still, what if that's not true and they're just from some alternate universe where he never left?

Ha, look at him now, worrying about stupid stuff like that.]

Starting training that young usually isn't normal. For me, it was because I was an orphan nobody wanted to adopt, so Garden became my new home. Most other students enroll when they're older.

[teradine]

[Oh-- an orphan. Fred had been one of those, hadn't he? It's... a little sad to think about, but no matter how much she does, Argilla falls short of truly understanding.

Either way, it sounds like Vatheon chose to bring Squall here at an inconvenient time, just like it has done so many others. She sympathizes, but maybe she can at least be a bit thankful that it's not totally true for her...]

...The Garden sounds like a beautiful place.

[Her tone suggests that it is a shame he had to do something unpleasant as train and fight there. But them again, she only knows what a literal garden is...]

[unshelledbullet]

[Well, in a way, it is pretty. Squall can appreciate the architecture of it, and hey, the plants in the training center and the quad look pretty nice too.]

I guess it is. But maybe I'm biased because I live there.

[teradine]

[Bias or not, it's something Argilla would love to know more about. She feels a little intrusive bombarding him with questions, but...

Well, he doesn't seem to mind answering them too terribly.]

Do all orphans gather there?

[unshelledbullet]

No. Only ones who don't get adopted like me.

[It's still painful to think about it. Even when he was the last child, nobody wanted him...]

[teradine]

[...For a moment, she's silent, not entirely knowing what to say to him. It takes a moment for her to realize how painful it is for him, and maybe there's something in his voice that tipped her off about it.

She's only just learning how to read people, though; particularly those newer to the tribe, so it's not like she knows for sure. But she backs off anyway.]

How sad.

[...Her gaze turns away from him for a moment and falls onto one of the training dummies she'd been attacking earlier. It's as if it's a reminder to resume what she'd been doing.]

[unshelledbullet]

[It is very sad. For the first years of his life, Squall endured a lot of rejection, and that was one of the major factors that shaped his life.]

It's fine. It doesn't bother me as much now.

[Now that he knows that it isn't hopeless and now that he's matured to the point where he understands that he needs to deal with loss and rejection rather than try to hide from it.]

[teradine]

[That's good to hear, at least. She is glad, and the expression on her face likely shows that; so she lets out a sigh. It sounds almost like she'd been holding that breath in for a while.

She nods quietly.]

You don't seem like the type to allow it to haunt you.

[His past. That's the way it should be, though she's beginning to see how difficult it is to leave the past behind.]

...Then, would you like to return to your training?

[She hadn't meant to interrupt-- even though it was him who approached her.]

[unshelledbullet]

[That's where she would be wrong. Even if Squall lost most of his memories of his past, it affected him every day for years. It's only recently that he's started to change.]

That would be a good idea. It is what we're here for.

[And he's going to pick out a dummy to slice up!]

[teradine]

[...And Argilla will transform again, the Atma mark on her chest glowing. She targets a different dummy, since there are more than enough for the both of them.

And even though she'd been wrong about him, she's confident this place would give her the chance to get to know him better. Through fighting or otherwise.]