crankyoldman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crankyoldman) wrote2008-01-31 02:48 pm
crankyoldman) wrote2008-01-31 02:48 pm
Entry tags:
[fic] Carbon Made - Chapter 2
Fandom: FF8
Characters/Pairings: Rinoa, Laguna
Summary: In Esthar, isolation wasn't just from other countries.
Notes: In which some of the supernatural elements start to peek in. And some of the reason why Rinoa would be in a nation of people paranoid about sorceresses. Maybe it's a little thin, but I don't care. FF8, unlike FF7, has so many plotholes and unanswered questions I can pretty much go nuts. XD Also, Laguna. God, I forgot how much I just wanted that man to be my next door neighbor.
And yes, I like playing with light. XD Next chapter features dream conversations!
Had to be the sunglasses, and the wide-brimmed hat she'd gotten as well. Maybe it was because she wasn't wearing blue, but a pale-yellow cream that was something like a dress she once owned, only more modest. There was a little girl in her that could pretend she was a movie star on a retreat, that normally she was followed by cameras and groupies, but she'd decided to slip past the veil of anonymity for a while.
And here, walking along the light-saturated streets with probably the world's last honest journalist, she felt calm. Which was kind of funny, considering they'd practically wanted to burn her at the stake the last time she was here.
"And over here is... well, I'm not sure what it is, but it's kind of pretty."
About ten minutes ago, she got the feeling Laguna had no idea where he was going. Not that she minded, part of her hoped they'd get a little lost, just so she could hear him ramble on about 'the giant knitting needles' and 'corkscrew stuck in the ground'. Estharian art was very mechanical like that.
"Laguna?"
The first time she'd met Laguna in person she realized who he was. They had a similar... well, aftertaste. Rinoa still had a hard time describing that thing all people had, which she noticed more as she actually tried to focus on things. There were other similarities too, which Squall denied vehemently. She let that issue go, after all, she wasn't exactly close with her own father. So she'd kept in contact with Laguna for him.
Well, and Selphie. The monthly Laguna letters had allowed them to get along maybe more than anything.
"Yup, what can I do for you?" He'd been fiddling with what looked like a water fountain of some kind, and a small part of it came off in his hand. He set it back down and looked away from it innocently.
"Am I... making things difficult, being here?"
He scratched the back of his neck in a gesture she knew quite well from someone else.
"Well, like I told, ah, the Garden people who called... Dr. Odine and anyone else like that got put in jail, so the only people that know who you are... well, are me. And my advisers. I made them pinky swear not to let it out."
Rinoa knew that she wouldn't have been allowed outside of Garden without some kind of setup. She had to admit, her first thought when she decided she needed something was to leave a note and take the first train to Timber, but she wasn't sixteen anymore. No, she couldn't just run off like that. It was bratty and immature, and being around people that grew up the instant they hit puberty had been... humbling. Maybe a little disturbing. Ellone had given her the idea that the last place people would expect her would be Esthar, considering their paranoia and history.
But that wasn't what she was asking. "No, I mean... for you."
When Laguna looked serious, the subtle smile lines of his face got deeper, and it was obvious he wasn't quite the man from the dreams, the one that Ellone had remembered so well. The fact that her mother was her amulet of sorts for years was proving to be a really morbid thing. What was Julia Heartilly really, if the mere mention of her, even subtly, caused people so much pain?
But that look didn't last long. "Of course not. What guy wouldn't want to spend some time with a pretty girl?"
She smiled under her hat. "Thank you."
"Anytime. Now. Where were we on the tour..."
"We'd just passed the giant corkscrew and you were about to get to the lime green can."
Of course it wasn't completely safe here. They couldn't account for everything. But she was glad for that, because allowed some... risk. Rinoa couldn't know what she was made of if there wasn't a some kind of uncontrolled element.
"Right! And next is the... wait. We were here already."
She laughed. "Maybe we just got a little turned around?"
"I could have sworn we were... let's go this way."
---
It was kind of creepy how Esthar could seem so abandoned at noontime. So different from where she grew up, and even Timber--people always bustling about, going about their lives. It had been all a frightening blur last time, and now... it really was a nation of isolation. Where people were even isolated in their own lives, their own homes. Rinoa knew why they'd latched onto Laguna so well then, as he was the exact opposite. That comfortable everywhere-everyplace, a kind of human tornado that managed only to rearrange lawn furniture.
But it wasn't entirely quiet. There was someone.
"Hey, I just saw someone, I'm going to ask them for directions, ok?"
He was sitting on some kind of dry fountain, map splayed out. Maybe he'd find the way, but it couldn't hurt if she asked this person, who was walking slowly on the other side of an alleyway. Rinoa was already off in that direction, before Laguna could even answer. If Angelo had come with her, she might have been able to send him ahead, but she'd left him with Zell because he said he'd take good care of him...
For someone moving so slowly, this stranger still seemed so far off. Maybe she just had to yell for them, let them know she was there. Rinoa took a breath.
"Excuse me! I have a question!"
The scandals of her childhood had been scrapped knees while running with the local "riff-raff" as the imperial General had always put it. Rinoa was running now, and it was strange how the figure didn't seem to get closer--though now that she'd gotten a good enough look, she could see it was a woman. Her long white-blonde hair was tied back in a sort of braid, and she had an umbrella to ward off the searing sun.
"Excuse--" the woman rounded the corner and Rinoa finally seemed to be catching up. Estharian architecture must have been full of optical illusions or something like that, it was the only way to explain it. Oh, it had been too long since she'd run like this, hat in hand and hair trailing behind her like a comet's tail, skirt rustling around her like sea foam.
"Ha! There you--" She was back in the square, Laguna still sitting trying to decipher the map and looking just like she'd left him.
He looked up. "What's wrong?"
Rinoa looked around. "I... I think I just saw someone. I went chasing after them and..." she trailed off into just a breath, almost an exasperated sigh.
Laguna looked more puzzled than he had been looking at the map. "You were only gone for a moment, I figured you saw something interesting."
"I was going to go ask someone I saw for directions," she said. Funny, she didn't feel winded at all, considering how much running she'd just done.
"I didn't see anyone." Laguna was nice enough he wouldn't ask if she was feeling alright. There was nothing more that bothered her these days as people asking if she was feeling alright with that look on their faces that clearly said she was loony.
She looked at the ground, and dug her toe into the pavement. "You have any idea where we are now?"
"No, but I just remembered I had a radio!"
Maybe there were other reasons why Ellone had suggested this place. Despite the warmth, it almost made Rinoa shiver.
Characters/Pairings: Rinoa, Laguna
Summary: In Esthar, isolation wasn't just from other countries.
Notes: In which some of the supernatural elements start to peek in. And some of the reason why Rinoa would be in a nation of people paranoid about sorceresses. Maybe it's a little thin, but I don't care. FF8, unlike FF7, has so many plotholes and unanswered questions I can pretty much go nuts. XD Also, Laguna. God, I forgot how much I just wanted that man to be my next door neighbor.
And yes, I like playing with light. XD Next chapter features dream conversations!
Had to be the sunglasses, and the wide-brimmed hat she'd gotten as well. Maybe it was because she wasn't wearing blue, but a pale-yellow cream that was something like a dress she once owned, only more modest. There was a little girl in her that could pretend she was a movie star on a retreat, that normally she was followed by cameras and groupies, but she'd decided to slip past the veil of anonymity for a while.
And here, walking along the light-saturated streets with probably the world's last honest journalist, she felt calm. Which was kind of funny, considering they'd practically wanted to burn her at the stake the last time she was here.
"And over here is... well, I'm not sure what it is, but it's kind of pretty."
About ten minutes ago, she got the feeling Laguna had no idea where he was going. Not that she minded, part of her hoped they'd get a little lost, just so she could hear him ramble on about 'the giant knitting needles' and 'corkscrew stuck in the ground'. Estharian art was very mechanical like that.
"Laguna?"
The first time she'd met Laguna in person she realized who he was. They had a similar... well, aftertaste. Rinoa still had a hard time describing that thing all people had, which she noticed more as she actually tried to focus on things. There were other similarities too, which Squall denied vehemently. She let that issue go, after all, she wasn't exactly close with her own father. So she'd kept in contact with Laguna for him.
Well, and Selphie. The monthly Laguna letters had allowed them to get along maybe more than anything.
"Yup, what can I do for you?" He'd been fiddling with what looked like a water fountain of some kind, and a small part of it came off in his hand. He set it back down and looked away from it innocently.
"Am I... making things difficult, being here?"
He scratched the back of his neck in a gesture she knew quite well from someone else.
"Well, like I told, ah, the Garden people who called... Dr. Odine and anyone else like that got put in jail, so the only people that know who you are... well, are me. And my advisers. I made them pinky swear not to let it out."
Rinoa knew that she wouldn't have been allowed outside of Garden without some kind of setup. She had to admit, her first thought when she decided she needed something was to leave a note and take the first train to Timber, but she wasn't sixteen anymore. No, she couldn't just run off like that. It was bratty and immature, and being around people that grew up the instant they hit puberty had been... humbling. Maybe a little disturbing. Ellone had given her the idea that the last place people would expect her would be Esthar, considering their paranoia and history.
But that wasn't what she was asking. "No, I mean... for you."
When Laguna looked serious, the subtle smile lines of his face got deeper, and it was obvious he wasn't quite the man from the dreams, the one that Ellone had remembered so well. The fact that her mother was her amulet of sorts for years was proving to be a really morbid thing. What was Julia Heartilly really, if the mere mention of her, even subtly, caused people so much pain?
But that look didn't last long. "Of course not. What guy wouldn't want to spend some time with a pretty girl?"
She smiled under her hat. "Thank you."
"Anytime. Now. Where were we on the tour..."
"We'd just passed the giant corkscrew and you were about to get to the lime green can."
Of course it wasn't completely safe here. They couldn't account for everything. But she was glad for that, because allowed some... risk. Rinoa couldn't know what she was made of if there wasn't a some kind of uncontrolled element.
"Right! And next is the... wait. We were here already."
She laughed. "Maybe we just got a little turned around?"
"I could have sworn we were... let's go this way."
---
It was kind of creepy how Esthar could seem so abandoned at noontime. So different from where she grew up, and even Timber--people always bustling about, going about their lives. It had been all a frightening blur last time, and now... it really was a nation of isolation. Where people were even isolated in their own lives, their own homes. Rinoa knew why they'd latched onto Laguna so well then, as he was the exact opposite. That comfortable everywhere-everyplace, a kind of human tornado that managed only to rearrange lawn furniture.
But it wasn't entirely quiet. There was someone.
"Hey, I just saw someone, I'm going to ask them for directions, ok?"
He was sitting on some kind of dry fountain, map splayed out. Maybe he'd find the way, but it couldn't hurt if she asked this person, who was walking slowly on the other side of an alleyway. Rinoa was already off in that direction, before Laguna could even answer. If Angelo had come with her, she might have been able to send him ahead, but she'd left him with Zell because he said he'd take good care of him...
For someone moving so slowly, this stranger still seemed so far off. Maybe she just had to yell for them, let them know she was there. Rinoa took a breath.
"Excuse me! I have a question!"
The scandals of her childhood had been scrapped knees while running with the local "riff-raff" as the imperial General had always put it. Rinoa was running now, and it was strange how the figure didn't seem to get closer--though now that she'd gotten a good enough look, she could see it was a woman. Her long white-blonde hair was tied back in a sort of braid, and she had an umbrella to ward off the searing sun.
"Excuse--" the woman rounded the corner and Rinoa finally seemed to be catching up. Estharian architecture must have been full of optical illusions or something like that, it was the only way to explain it. Oh, it had been too long since she'd run like this, hat in hand and hair trailing behind her like a comet's tail, skirt rustling around her like sea foam.
"Ha! There you--" She was back in the square, Laguna still sitting trying to decipher the map and looking just like she'd left him.
He looked up. "What's wrong?"
Rinoa looked around. "I... I think I just saw someone. I went chasing after them and..." she trailed off into just a breath, almost an exasperated sigh.
Laguna looked more puzzled than he had been looking at the map. "You were only gone for a moment, I figured you saw something interesting."
"I was going to go ask someone I saw for directions," she said. Funny, she didn't feel winded at all, considering how much running she'd just done.
"I didn't see anyone." Laguna was nice enough he wouldn't ask if she was feeling alright. There was nothing more that bothered her these days as people asking if she was feeling alright with that look on their faces that clearly said she was loony.
She looked at the ground, and dug her toe into the pavement. "You have any idea where we are now?"
"No, but I just remembered I had a radio!"
Maybe there were other reasons why Ellone had suggested this place. Despite the warmth, it almost made Rinoa shiver.
no subject
After reading your La I don’t see why you wouldn’t do more with Zack (other than he isn’t alive during most of your time periods). But yes, La is so awesome here and you made him have his little human bits as well, so awesome.
I also like how Esther is described here, no idea if it’s accurate or not as I don’t at all remember the area, not just the fun stuff La goes on about but Rin’s perceptions of the place as well. The lady with the umbrella sounds exciting.
This was just plain fun to read, this maybe because I’m in a good mood for no real reason but yes it was fun.
Thanks for asking my Veld question over at LJ.
no subject
I know, but for some reason I like Laguna more than Zack. I think it has to do with the fact most Zack fangirls are crazy, and I want to avoid them. XD (not at all a jab at you, as I do not lump you in with that type). And I don't know, considering what we see of Zack is from his slightly unbalanced fanboy (because Cloud did act like that for a while) he feels less genuine than Laguna? I think if I'd have seen Zack, still alive, like Laguna, I might be less skeptical.
It could have been my monitor, but Esthar seemed so BRIGHT and sterile to me when I played it. XD
~Cendri
no subject
Well, you get to see more of Laguna than of Zack. Zack has maybe five minutes of game-time even though he is probably as important to over all plot as Laguna, if the games over all plots had been more similar they probably would have shared about the same amount of screen time. So yeah, I can totally understand liking Laguna more because you get a chance to get a feel for him. While Zack you have to put together from the bits and pieces Aeris, Cloud, and Tifa give you. But unlike Laguna you get to play “Where is Waldo” with Zack and Cloud in the first telling of the Nibelheim story, which is so much awesome fun on play backs.
I will say in CC and BC he seems a little softer than I would have liked but I kind of like all the Shinra people to have a little hard edge to them even if they aren’t Turks, except for Cid, because SOLDIER had to be doing some pretty awful things themselves and we know the science people were pretty black.
I'd would read more Zack centered things if I liked how people portrayed Aeris and Sephiroth. Why can't per-Nibelhiem Sephiroth be evil all on his own. Which is why after CC comes out I'm hoping for Zack and Tseng friendship stuff, I'm sure they'll be slash but hopeful some of it will be friendship centered because while I haven't written much of it I adore that friendship idea so much.
And I'm babbling way too much.
no subject
And I follow the babble too. Agreed on pretty much all points. You should write some Tseng and Zack hanging out.
~Cendri
no subject
This line kind of makes me want to make out with you a little. >.> it's such a perfect picture of Rinoa and the SeeDs and how I think she'd think of it... dead-on. YES.
MOAR PLZ. I am writing "Ziggy Stardust" on my hand right now and hoping that I don't run into anyone embarassing at work.
Tubby doesn't have an IJ don't hate me!
(Anonymous) 2008-01-31 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)From Tubby
I Love Laguna
They are like BFF. And I like that. I also like the addition of the little adventure that you're playing with. It's interesting and I can't wait to see where it goes.
no subject
(You reminded me of this because they got lost.)
Dear sweet baby jesusfish, I love your Laguna. He was so deliciously - LAGUNA - in all the little gestures. Delicious. He broke the fountain. <3 So much love.
I think that my favourite line was about the SeeDs growing up the moment they hit puberty. I always enjoy how you appreciate how terribly ... ambiguous, it all was, turning orphans into weapons.
I also like the back-references to everyone else. Selphie, Zell - nice to see Rinoa still acting as part of a whole (even though she always did feel distinctly seperate from everyone in game, didn't she).
-T. pirate
no subject
(Anonymous) 2008-02-08 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)I'm looking forward to more!
--Invocations