[fic][dissidia] heads or tails
flyby!fic while I warm up for the hugging!meme I left hanging.
heads or tails
squall, zidane, and zidane's tail meet each other. ff dissidia continuity.
When Squall meets Zidane, he can't stop staring at his tail.
He probably wouldn't have noticed it right away except that while looking for a crystal he crests a ridge to find the kid wasting a Manikin wearing the shape of Ultimecia. Squall has his gunblade out in a flash of light and then out of the corner of his vision he sees a red and tan figure take three bounding, ground-eating strides and attack. It's a kid, Squall thinks first, cause the boy's so small. Then, a guardian force? Because when the Manikin shatters, the kid drops to the ground on one knee and he's mostly covered with red-brown fur. He resembles Carbunkle more than a man, and a primate more than Carbunkle.
So naturally Squall wonders where the arbiter is, which is why he's looking around the cold plain when the kid says, "Hey! You okay, there?"
It's not a voice in Squall's head. That's already wrong. It's also in an accent Squall's never heard before. He turns back to the guardian force and sees a blond-haired boy wearing a blue vest and riding breeches with a fancy cravat, but carrying the same daggers as the guardian force and whipping the same tail behind him. Then the guardian force's weapons disappear, and it smiles, putting its hands on its hips. "I know I'm dazzling in battle, but come on." It's a joke.
Squall relinquishes his gunblade. Other than the Manikins and Cosmos, this is the first being he's encountered since being thrown into this bizarre, barren world. "Where is your arbiter?" he asks, before it occurs to him that maybe this kid is the arbiter. Maybe the guardian force possesses him, as Edea was possessed by Ultimecia.
"My what?" the kid/guardian force asks, quirking an eyebrow. "Sorry, I follow my own rules."
"Ah," Squall says after a moment. Now that he's standing still, he realizes the kid is really short. Maybe even prepubescent. Not, Squall admits, that he's much older than a kid himself, but still, it's surreal. If the kid is human. Except he's obviously not human; the tail is mostly still, but it's there, prehensile and flicking slightly with every shift of the kid's body. It's part of how he balances, Squall realizes distantly, as surely as Squall uses his arms and legs. "What are you?" he asks, point-blank.
The kid blinks, and his brows furrow at Squall; then he glances back. For a second Squall thinks he's going to turn himself in a circle, like a dog chasing its tail. But instead the kid laughs, and the tail whips up and around; he grabs the end of it. "This?" he asks, holding it up like a trophy and pointing at it with his free hand. "You've never seen a hybrid before? Half-animal, half-human?"
Squall feels vaguely embarrassed. Human/animal hybrids? It sounds like some kind of sick experiment, but the way the kid acts, he thinks Squall is crazy. "No," he admits, putting a hand on his hip.
"Wow. They're everywhere on Gaia," the kid comments, dropping his tail. "Never had anybody look twice at my tail before." He winks. "But actually, it's the source of all my secret powers."
"What?" Squall stares. He's never heard of Gaia, of course: Cosmos must have summoned people from many worlds. A world of half-animal half-human creatures is beyond his imagining. Powers in an extra appendage? That's just weird.
"I'm joking," the kid says. "Well. Mostly." he holds out his hand. "Name's Zidane Tribal. Saw you about to whip out on the Manikin there, so I guess you're a good guy," he says.
"Squall Leonhart," Squall introduces himself, and shakes Zidane's hand. He's small but his hand is larger than Squall's. "You were called here by Cosmos?"
"Yep. Nice to meet you, Squall." Zidane lets go and looks over the plain again consideringly. "Guess we're both looking for crystals, huh?" Squall nods, and Zidane puts his hands back on his hips. "Great. Let's go looking together," he proposes.
Squall balks at that. "We'd do better to split up. Cover more ground," he proposes. He can't help noticing that when Zidane's face tightens up, his tail lashes. It's distracting.
Zidane looks the way Squall came, and in the opposite direction. "Well, you came from this way, and I came from that way," he says, pointing. "And we're both going this way, right?" He points in the direction Squall had intended to travel. "So we might as well stick it out together for a little bit."
Squall wants to protest; he could pretend he's going in another direction, but he doesn't want to change it up just so that Zidane will leave him to his own devices. Squall's never been that good at teamwork. "..." He shrugs, finally, and starts walking.
He hears Zidane let out a loud, obnoxious sigh behind him, then one bounding stride and he's abreast of Squall. "Strong, silent type, huh?" Zidane asks.
Squall ignores this. Instead he asks about what's been nagging him. "Do all hybrids use Aura like you? Or is that a possessing Guardian Force?"
"Huh?" Zidane looks at Squall like he's nuts. "I'm not a summoner. Well, I could be, but--oh, you mean Trance-Dyne," he says. Squall figures they're talking about the same power spell with different names. "I don't know. There's ... well, there's only one other hybrid like me, and it looked more like feathers on him. Sucks to be him; fur is warmer." Squall isn't sure if Zidane is telling a joke or not without looking at him, so Squall just nods, ingesting the information and noticing the past tense on the fellow hybrid. "What's Aura?"
Part of the reason why Squall prefers to work alone is because of conversation. He's not good at it. "..."
Zidane waits for an answer for a while, then sighs, throwing his arms up behind his head. "So what is this, only you get to ask the questions?"
"I don't like to talk much," Squall admits.
"I got that," Zidane says. "But believe it or not, you're not the worst conversationalist I've met."
Squall says nothing.
"Although you're pretty close."
"..."
Thank Chaos, there's a flash of light atop a mesa-tower of land in the distance. All conversation is dropped at the sight of a potential battle. They both have their weapons out in an instant, but Zidane is faster; he runs off, moving like a four-legged animal on two legs, hunched forward, with ground-eating strides, and his tail straight out behind him for balance. Squall can think of nothing so much as a leopard.
Then Zidane leaps off a ravine edge, twists in midair so he's facing Squall, and laughs. "Last one there is a rotten egg!" he hollers.
Squall decides he's much, much more of a monkey.
fin
heads or tails
squall, zidane, and zidane's tail meet each other. ff dissidia continuity.
When Squall meets Zidane, he can't stop staring at his tail.
He probably wouldn't have noticed it right away except that while looking for a crystal he crests a ridge to find the kid wasting a Manikin wearing the shape of Ultimecia. Squall has his gunblade out in a flash of light and then out of the corner of his vision he sees a red and tan figure take three bounding, ground-eating strides and attack. It's a kid, Squall thinks first, cause the boy's so small. Then, a guardian force? Because when the Manikin shatters, the kid drops to the ground on one knee and he's mostly covered with red-brown fur. He resembles Carbunkle more than a man, and a primate more than Carbunkle.
So naturally Squall wonders where the arbiter is, which is why he's looking around the cold plain when the kid says, "Hey! You okay, there?"
It's not a voice in Squall's head. That's already wrong. It's also in an accent Squall's never heard before. He turns back to the guardian force and sees a blond-haired boy wearing a blue vest and riding breeches with a fancy cravat, but carrying the same daggers as the guardian force and whipping the same tail behind him. Then the guardian force's weapons disappear, and it smiles, putting its hands on its hips. "I know I'm dazzling in battle, but come on." It's a joke.
Squall relinquishes his gunblade. Other than the Manikins and Cosmos, this is the first being he's encountered since being thrown into this bizarre, barren world. "Where is your arbiter?" he asks, before it occurs to him that maybe this kid is the arbiter. Maybe the guardian force possesses him, as Edea was possessed by Ultimecia.
"My what?" the kid/guardian force asks, quirking an eyebrow. "Sorry, I follow my own rules."
"Ah," Squall says after a moment. Now that he's standing still, he realizes the kid is really short. Maybe even prepubescent. Not, Squall admits, that he's much older than a kid himself, but still, it's surreal. If the kid is human. Except he's obviously not human; the tail is mostly still, but it's there, prehensile and flicking slightly with every shift of the kid's body. It's part of how he balances, Squall realizes distantly, as surely as Squall uses his arms and legs. "What are you?" he asks, point-blank.
The kid blinks, and his brows furrow at Squall; then he glances back. For a second Squall thinks he's going to turn himself in a circle, like a dog chasing its tail. But instead the kid laughs, and the tail whips up and around; he grabs the end of it. "This?" he asks, holding it up like a trophy and pointing at it with his free hand. "You've never seen a hybrid before? Half-animal, half-human?"
Squall feels vaguely embarrassed. Human/animal hybrids? It sounds like some kind of sick experiment, but the way the kid acts, he thinks Squall is crazy. "No," he admits, putting a hand on his hip.
"Wow. They're everywhere on Gaia," the kid comments, dropping his tail. "Never had anybody look twice at my tail before." He winks. "But actually, it's the source of all my secret powers."
"What?" Squall stares. He's never heard of Gaia, of course: Cosmos must have summoned people from many worlds. A world of half-animal half-human creatures is beyond his imagining. Powers in an extra appendage? That's just weird.
"I'm joking," the kid says. "Well. Mostly." he holds out his hand. "Name's Zidane Tribal. Saw you about to whip out on the Manikin there, so I guess you're a good guy," he says.
"Squall Leonhart," Squall introduces himself, and shakes Zidane's hand. He's small but his hand is larger than Squall's. "You were called here by Cosmos?"
"Yep. Nice to meet you, Squall." Zidane lets go and looks over the plain again consideringly. "Guess we're both looking for crystals, huh?" Squall nods, and Zidane puts his hands back on his hips. "Great. Let's go looking together," he proposes.
Squall balks at that. "We'd do better to split up. Cover more ground," he proposes. He can't help noticing that when Zidane's face tightens up, his tail lashes. It's distracting.
Zidane looks the way Squall came, and in the opposite direction. "Well, you came from this way, and I came from that way," he says, pointing. "And we're both going this way, right?" He points in the direction Squall had intended to travel. "So we might as well stick it out together for a little bit."
Squall wants to protest; he could pretend he's going in another direction, but he doesn't want to change it up just so that Zidane will leave him to his own devices. Squall's never been that good at teamwork. "..." He shrugs, finally, and starts walking.
He hears Zidane let out a loud, obnoxious sigh behind him, then one bounding stride and he's abreast of Squall. "Strong, silent type, huh?" Zidane asks.
Squall ignores this. Instead he asks about what's been nagging him. "Do all hybrids use Aura like you? Or is that a possessing Guardian Force?"
"Huh?" Zidane looks at Squall like he's nuts. "I'm not a summoner. Well, I could be, but--oh, you mean Trance-Dyne," he says. Squall figures they're talking about the same power spell with different names. "I don't know. There's ... well, there's only one other hybrid like me, and it looked more like feathers on him. Sucks to be him; fur is warmer." Squall isn't sure if Zidane is telling a joke or not without looking at him, so Squall just nods, ingesting the information and noticing the past tense on the fellow hybrid. "What's Aura?"
Part of the reason why Squall prefers to work alone is because of conversation. He's not good at it. "..."
Zidane waits for an answer for a while, then sighs, throwing his arms up behind his head. "So what is this, only you get to ask the questions?"
"I don't like to talk much," Squall admits.
"I got that," Zidane says. "But believe it or not, you're not the worst conversationalist I've met."
Squall says nothing.
"Although you're pretty close."
"..."
Thank Chaos, there's a flash of light atop a mesa-tower of land in the distance. All conversation is dropped at the sight of a potential battle. They both have their weapons out in an instant, but Zidane is faster; he runs off, moving like a four-legged animal on two legs, hunched forward, with ground-eating strides, and his tail straight out behind him for balance. Squall can think of nothing so much as a leopard.
Then Zidane leaps off a ravine edge, twists in midair so he's facing Squall, and laughs. "Last one there is a rotten egg!" he hollers.
Squall decides he's much, much more of a monkey.
fin