A gunblade is a girl's best friend - after her dog anyway

[rebellingheart]

[Stupid gossip posts. They seem worse than Chessy's column in the paper somehow. It's probably because everyone can answer the bbs post, but either way it's just so frustrating!]

[Which is why she's currently in the training center more or less working off some steam. Honestly it's actually kind of nice to train now. The gunblade forms seem to be second nature finally so it's nice to just focus on movement for a little while.]

[No more grat juice splattering all over her either which is nice. Those days are behind her for good now and in their place she moves with grace and confidence - the ultimate result of countless hours of training.]

[Come bother her as she depletes the local grat population?]

Comments

[paradoxdestined.livejournal.com]

[Squall had been looking all over for Rinoa. The Training Center wasn't where he'd expected to find her, but a lot of things had obviously changed. ...He felt like he was getting left behind. Everyone and everything was different and he was just the same old, introverted Squall. It was something he didn't want to think about.

When he did find her he just watched for a few minutes. She really was good with a gunblade. Maybe not as good as Seifer, but- ... ... ...]

For class?

[rebellingheart]

[Looking up Rinoa smiles and almost, almost tries out one of Instructor Farron's signature backflips. She doesn't though, because she's yet to really master just how the older woman manages to do those properly.]

Nope, I'm just training. I've already finished all of the classes that deal with physical fighting. The last of my classes are either book work or about magic.

[Which is annoying on a certain level as she knows that she's still not up to the level of Squall, Seifer, or Claire. So she spends time training, hoping that maybe with enough work one day she'll actually be as useful in combat as any of the three of them.]

[The way she rests her gunblade on her shoulder is almost comical, because it's obviously the same way Squall tends to hold his own gunblade.]

[paradoxdestined.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't smile back, but his expression lightens up somewhat.]

You've come a long way.

[...Yes that sounds awkward, but it's true.]

You don't use the blaster edge anymore?

[rebellingheart]

[Squall's smiles are for special occasions. While she's not entirely happy with this, she's come to accept it for the most part.]

Thanks. I've had a lot of help.

[It's okay she knows what he means. At least she thinks she knows what he means anyway.]

No, I do! I just thought it'd be better if I learned a more useful weapon. That's all. Sometimes I even try to figure out how to use both! It gets kind of complicated after a while though.

[subjected]

[ Claire might be in a tragically bad mood lately, but evidence of a fight in general-- or more specifically, that of one of this world's gunblades being used, is bound to pull her in anyway whenever she happens to be nearby.

She can appreciate someone taking things out on the resident monsters though, and so doesn't make a point of making her presence known at first while Rinoa finishes off her latest victim. As soon as that's done, however, she steps forward with the distinctive clinking made by her own weapon hanging behind her, head tilted and arms crossed. ]

[rebellingheart]

[Rinoa's not in a bad mood, she's just frustrated, but that's a good a reason as any to come pay the training center a visit. The fact that she really does need the training time helps certainly, though it's debatable if fighting grats is actually going to help her gunblading skills any.]

[The clinking is a familiar sound--after all she's no stranger to Cocoon style gunblades anymore--and Rinoa turns at the sound to offer the Instructor a small, slightly apologetic smile.]

We don't have any training scheduled for today do we? Because if we did I forgot all about it, sorry.

[subjected]

[ She just eyes the defeated monster a moment, before turning back to Rinoa. On the surface her behavior is nothing out of the ordinary, but even if her clothes and hair and such are as immaculate as always, she still manages to look slightly off. To say the least, her body language and tone are extremely stiff... even for her. ]

Not that it wouldn't hurt... but no. Nothing scheduled.

[rebellingheart]

I know. I've still got a lot of work to do.

[She watches Claire closely, wondering just why things seem so weird. Thanks to Squall she's gotten pretty used to reading body language for prompts by now. Not that it's easy, because her body language isn't the same as Squall's is.]

Is everything okay? You seem really tense today.

[She noticed the thing on the bbs, but she doesn't really know what's going on with that situation so there's no way that she could understand.]

[easilytriggered.livejournal.com]

[Zephyr's been making his own way through the training center, but he stops and holsters his guns to watch the girl in action.

Or rather, the gunblade.

Guy, girl, it doesn't really matter. Zephyr has heard about this weapon since getting here, and to see it in action? Well, he's not passing that opportunity up.

She seems to be handling it well enough, but what does he know?]

[rebellingheart]

[She's not really the person to watch for awesome gunblade skills. She's gone from "not bad" to "pretty good", but she's no gunblade master like a few people around campus.]

[She notices the attention, but as a whole it doesn't really bother her too much. She calmly goes through the motions dispatching each grat with moves she's practiced probably hundreds of times before. As the last one falls, she turns to him curiously.]

Heya! I don't think we've met. I'm Rinoa, who're you?

[easilytriggered.livejournal.com]

Zephyr.

[He gestures at the weapon in her hands.]

Nice job with the gunblade there. You been using it long?

[fierybluebird]

[And Marco hops out of the sky in phoenix form to attempt to land on her shoulder. After dodging a bunch of gunblade swings of course.]

Chirp!

[Nothing out of the ordinary here.]

[rebellingheart]

[Ha! A final swing and the grat falls. Nothing to it, see? Rinoa's totally got this. Just...don't ask her to fight anything too big just yet.]

[Anyways more important things to focus on right now. Like the blue thing with feathers on her shoulder. Sheathing her gunblade, she reaches up with one hand to fondly ruffle the feather's on Marco's head.]

You know you're pretty cute when you're all little like this.

[fierybluebird]

Kreeee? [Nuzzles her head. He's heard it before, but he likes to pretend he's totally intimidating, even in "tiny" phoenix form (which is still bigger than a human, just compressed and carefully balanced).]

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

[Bulla's in the training center as well, just walking around for now. After nearly hitting people with airborne grats, she's made a habit of checking through the entire training area ever since.

When she spots Rinoa, she heads over to greet her friend.]

Hey! Gunblade forms are looking good...and so are those shoes.

[rebellingheart]

[Finishing the grat she was fighting, she turns and waves at Bulla with her free hand.]

Bulla! Hi. [Rinoa smiles and then looks down at the boots she was wearing.] Thanks, I bought them on a run into town with Sharpay for breakfast the other day.

I've got a lot of work to do with gunblades though, but I'll get there someday!

[shops-a-lot.livejournal.com]

I've got a long way to go before I'll be even at my brother's level much less my dad's...but I think we've both made a lot of progress over the past year.

[A grat starts to approach Bulla, but finds itself knocked away with a harsh backhand.]

Do you feel ready for the SeeD exam?

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

What are you using?!

[That's an expression somewhere between surprise and delight as another girl all but bounds towards her. Of course, over her shoulders, two grips that look closer to Lionheart's than anything protrude in a V-shape; maybe the same question could apply in reverse?]

[rebellingheart]

A.. gunblade?

[Rinoa's not entirely sure what to think of that question and she only gets more confused when she notices not one but two gunblade grips.]

But you already know that I take it.

It's a custom that I had made when I finished advanced bladed weapons. A gift to myself for passing pretty much. She's called Vanishing Star. Here!

[She smiles before carefully holding out her gunblade for the other girl's inspection.]

[gunblade-grrl.livejournal.com]

I've never read about this model before!

[She's staring at it with excitement that borders on mania. Her arms twitch upwards. She wants to hold it so badly.]

[eggplantallergy]

[Withered shrieks following a cascade of sound can be heard as a few grats fade away. Gakupo wipes at his forehead, hating how his bangs kept sticking to it! He wonders off into a new part of the training center and encounters Rinoa and her gunblade. Those are really nice moves!]

Wow, I wasn't aware you were specializing in that! [Grins lightly.] You're quite good at that!

[rebellingheart]

Really? [She slices at a Grat, dodging out of the way of a vine nimbly.] I've been studying gunblades since second quarter.

[One final slash and there goes the Grat. So she takes a step back.]

I've got a long way to go if I want to be even close to how good Squall is.

[eggplantallergy]

I can tell! [Gakupo notices that a few grats have some his way.] So annoying. [Swings his blade, which made a shrill sound that distracts them before slicing at them for an actual attack. It all sounded like a stage musical with the way he's fighting.

He finishes them off, turning to Rinoa.]

Those are rather large shoes to step into.

[xwheresmacrown.livejournal.com]

[ On a rare incidence is the princess found in the training center. However, one does need to keep in shape as well as make sure that one's abilities don't go rusty. However, she's been discreet in her practice as the locals don't really take to her fire fan.

But she takes a moment to watch Rinoa, snapping her fan closed before approaching. ]

I take it something's on your mind?

[rebellingheart]

[Monsters defeated she sheaths her gunblade at the other girl's approach.]

It's nothing really. There's just a lot that's happened lately and I needed time to sort everything out.