Cid Raines (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fallacies) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
concoursec2012-06-20 07:40 pm
fallacies) wrote in concoursec2012-06-20 07:40 pm
the best laid schemes of mice and men--
Characters: Cid and Claire.
Location: Primarily in Trabia? Possibly in a few other locations.
Rating: PG-13?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed.
Summary: It's not a difficult job, really, so what's the point of sending two Sanctum l'Cie off on such a mission?
To have two back-to-back missions was a bit odd. Difficult? Not really, no, but a surprise, yes. After having been assigned to so few operations since the beginning of his teaching tenure, it struck Cid as… strange, really. Admittedly, though, the weirdest part had to be whom the headmaster had decided to pair him off with for this particular job.
Faint prickles of irritation threatened to overtake his thoughts as he sat on the passenger car, his seat opposite of one Claire Farron. His eyes were trained outside the window, and he lightly drummed his fingers against the window sill as the scenery passed them by. Cid didn’t understand it; this was a ridiculously easy job. There was no need to send two l’Cie out to complete it, even if he did comprehend the reasoning behind the headmaster choosing them to go.
The Blobra infestation in one of Trabia’s chocobo forests had been plaguing their Garden for quite some time now, and in the end, they’d called upon the assistance of Balamb Garden, which in turn sent Cid and Claire along: two individuals who could easily create barriers with their unnatural magic. The idea, then, was to herd all of the Blobra and exterminate them before they could start dividing once more.
To him, though, this was a job that could have easily been done by one of them alone.
Nonetheless, that had been Headmaster Cid’s request, and so, here they were, en route to their snowy destination. Cid sighed quietly and turned toward Claire, doing his best to appear polite. They were to be a team here, even if he honestly didn’t think they’d need to be one; he could at least be civil for that reason.
“Should we review our plans again?” he asked, rather abruptly breaking the long silence that had settled between them. A faint but humorless smile pulled at his lips, here one second and gone the next. Cid would just treat this like any other military exercise; there’d be nothing to it.
Location: Primarily in Trabia? Possibly in a few other locations.
Rating: PG-13?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed.
Summary: It's not a difficult job, really, so what's the point of sending two Sanctum l'Cie off on such a mission?
To have two back-to-back missions was a bit odd. Difficult? Not really, no, but a surprise, yes. After having been assigned to so few operations since the beginning of his teaching tenure, it struck Cid as… strange, really. Admittedly, though, the weirdest part had to be whom the headmaster had decided to pair him off with for this particular job.
Faint prickles of irritation threatened to overtake his thoughts as he sat on the passenger car, his seat opposite of one Claire Farron. His eyes were trained outside the window, and he lightly drummed his fingers against the window sill as the scenery passed them by. Cid didn’t understand it; this was a ridiculously easy job. There was no need to send two l’Cie out to complete it, even if he did comprehend the reasoning behind the headmaster choosing them to go.
The Blobra infestation in one of Trabia’s chocobo forests had been plaguing their Garden for quite some time now, and in the end, they’d called upon the assistance of Balamb Garden, which in turn sent Cid and Claire along: two individuals who could easily create barriers with their unnatural magic. The idea, then, was to herd all of the Blobra and exterminate them before they could start dividing once more.
To him, though, this was a job that could have easily been done by one of them alone.
Nonetheless, that had been Headmaster Cid’s request, and so, here they were, en route to their snowy destination. Cid sighed quietly and turned toward Claire, doing his best to appear polite. They were to be a team here, even if he honestly didn’t think they’d need to be one; he could at least be civil for that reason.
“Should we review our plans again?” he asked, rather abruptly breaking the long silence that had settled between them. A faint but humorless smile pulled at his lips, here one second and gone the next. Cid would just treat this like any other military exercise; there’d be nothing to it.
no subject
Yet, here they were anyway... and Claire found herself mentally repeating just how hard-pressed they'd be to find a less favorable situation for her. On paper the task sounded relatively easy; of course, she was originally PSICOM-trained rather than Guardian Corps, and so he undoubtedly had much more experience with the goal of taking out troublesome monsters. But still... that didn't cover the issues in compatibility here- in trapping her in close proximity to someone she distinctly didn't get along with.
It all left a bitter taste in her mouth, and a sinking miserable feeling in the pit of her stomach. She offered her insight only reluctantly, avoided eye contact... and kept to herself, staunchly attempting to simply shut off whatever she was feeling about this, the temptation to lash out like some sort of cornered animal.
Grasping for any sort of relief, in addition to the reports provided, she'd gone to the library and taken all of the books she could find on blobras and on the northern chocobo forests to bring with her-- along with several others detailing habitats in general as well. Nobody could be entirely certain why that particular type of monster had appeared so far out of their normal range, and while she was no expert and stood little chance of discovering something others had not, she was certainly not going to turn down the slightest hint of a clue or the chance to be prepared. Even she could adopt a strategy more patient than simply rushing in at times.
... One of those books laid open in her lap now, but her eyes had been distractedly fixed in one spot for several minutes now. Rather than sitting straight, she'd soon turned sideways, one leg pulled up almost to her chest with the heel of her boot on the edge of the seat, an arm propped agasint it. Even like that, however, and even dressed more warmly than usual, already she was feeling chilled, and the knowledge that before long she'd have to go out in the cooler air wasn't helping her mood any.
Then Raines finally broke the silence. She started to look up, but then resisted following through, eyes landing on the floor between them. Review their plans...?
"Why?" she asked after a moment, low enough that it could almost be lost behind the sound of the train's wheels on the track below. She let her gaze slide back down, to the dog-eared corner of the page she was currently on; a frown creased her brow. "Did you think of something else?"
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"No, I suppose not. I asked out of habit," he finally answered, his tone light and conversational; it was, perhaps, just a little forced, but he hoped it was subtle enough for her to not notice or take offense from it. Cid propped his arm against the window, his gaze slowly drifting away from Claire and back outside. Really, there wasn't much to discuss; the operation in itself was so simple that elaborating on it would only complicate the situation unnecessarily.
"In the Cavalry, my men would often review the mission at hand en route to their destination," Cid explained, a fond expression passing across his features. This time the words came much more easily--warmly, even. It had honestly been quite some time since he'd thought of the GC--of the men who had followed him so loyally--and while it was not entirely pleasant, there were more than a few good memories he had from his time there.
He fell silent then, eyes trained on the scenery outside, as a faint smile lingered on his lips. Eventually, Cid sighed quietly and looked back at Claire. "My apologies. I was hit with a moment of nostalgia.
"Surely those in PSICOM do something similar at times. I cannot imagine the difference between our two groups to be that large," he said, refocusing. Though his own relationship with Nabaat and Rosch had never been anything but formal and polite (and sometimes not even that), he was, at times, curious about the goings-on in the group. They were a very secretive bunch, after all, and even following his branding, Barthandelus never told him more than he needed to fulfill his duty.
His own chance to join had long passed him by, much to the dismay of many, but his true calling--his personal ambitions--meant that PSICOM had never really been an option to begin with. If he ever returned to Cocoon, Cid would never have the opportunity to ask, especially given the level of animosity he must have built up by this point (position as primarch be damned), so now he turned to a most curious source of insider information. Whether or not she would entertain his curiosity, though, was another matter entirely.
If she didn't, well, at least the scenery outside was pleasant to look at, if not a rather dull way to pass the time.
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Then again... while she didn't seek to understand his viewpoints, it was hard to miss a realization here in conjunction with recalling old rumors she herself hadn't revisited in several years.
"Yes, well... the Cavalry is a mobile unit by nature," she said after a long moment, in a low but carefully pronounced tone. Where exactly she was going with that, however, wasn't clear at first, and even she seemed to lose track for just a second as the pads of her fingertips tapped idly on her book and she glanced aside. But then, even lower: "I'm guessing the line between at-base and on mission is likelier less well-defined."
Claire knew all too well that by the time they were actually out in the field, she was pretty much expected to know exactly what to do already. Although PSICOM's purpose was supposed to be Cocoon's most elite defense against threats of Pulsian nature, they really didn't do much dealing with monsters like most of the GC did. Claire's experience with PSICOM's interaction with the other half of the military was supplemental at best- providing a source of support should things get out of hand.
-- With people, that is... and with a solid plan already in place. Ironically, the Purge was the first big thing PSICOM had taken on that was as on-the-fly as it was, and while they'd been trained for something like that too...
no subject
Certainly, sudden excursions to take care of a monster infestation meant that they might appear less prepared at the get-go than, say, what Claire was used to, but that style worked well for them. It kept his men on their toes and kept them sharp; after all, no one ever knew when the next call would come in.
"The lack of distinction is not something that has ever put us off," he finally answered with a passing smile. "Should you ever have the opportunity to ask, you'll likely find that many, if not all of us, have developed a fondness for travel."
--along with a propensity for being just out of the grasp of the Sanctum and its influences. Staying on the move meant staying one step ahead of anyone who might look into the more treasonous side of the Cavalry, and as some of the higher-ups (and the PSICOM directors) may have picked up on, they were a group much harder to force into doing anything as well. While these were characteristics already present prior to his joining the fleet, Cid's leadership only accentuated those elements as he continued to pursue his own goals--and then the wishes of his fal'Cie master.
"But I suppose we all have our reasons for joining the military and choosing the paths we did." Cid shallowly dipped his head in her direction, silently acknowledging that difference between them--between her and the Lightning Farron he knew. His words were, again, another invitation for her to speak more of herself, but his hopes were no higher this time than the last.
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Initially, just as he'd thought, she simply ignored the comment, but as several seconds ticked by, she began to realize with far too much distraction-caused delay for her own tastes the slight opening that was just neatly set in front of her. She frowned as she continued to stare off and downward.
Her curiosity about 'Lightning' was immense - how could it not be? - but all this time she'd always done her best to apparently flip-flop without any predictability over whether she really wanted to hear any details about the other woman. It was only very rare chances that she ever felt like pursuing the opportunity to ask- never without provocation, always after second-guessing herself.
In some way, she knew that if she were to be exposed to more of what the people from that other version of her world had to say, the fragile structure of beliefs she held about her own would be compromised-- a point that was all but entirely moot by now, of course. The only reason her reluctant interest went unaddressed now was only because there were now fewer of those from Cocoon or Gran Pulse of any version left behind- less chances to ask even if she was bold enough to do so. She still wanted very little to do with any of them.
Still-
"Do you know why she joined the Guardian Corps?" she asked finally, voice and body tense with lingering reluctance, and though it hadn't been said, the 'she' she was talking about surely wasn't hard to guess at.
At least this time she wasn't pointing a gunblade at the person she was trying to get the information out of.
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Claire's interest in the other woman was, admittedly, a bit of a surprise to Cid, even if the only sign of it was a slight raising of the eyebrows. After all, it seemed almost taboo to bring up the other Farron in her presence. No, they'd never really spoken about her to begin with, but her attitude when the sergeant had been around was more than enough for him to get the idea that this was thin ice they were treading on right now.
"We never spoke of the matter," he replied with a light shake of the head. That probably wasn't what she wanted to hear, but it was the truth. The most conversation the two of them shared had been aboard the Lindblum prior to the raid on the Palamecia, and even then, it had been strictly business--there was no time for personal matters for either of them.
This didn't mean that he hadn't looked into the backgrounds of the l'Cie he was charged with guiding though. With Lightning's ties to the military--the GC, no less--he had access to more of her information than any of the others: important people, dates, and locations; and from those files, Cid had been able to piece together some of the woman's history and what drove her.
"But I do have my assumptions." His continuation was a beat past what could be considered a comfortable silence, but he made no sign that there had been any break at all. "She did it for her sister--to allow her to continue living a normal life after the death of their parents.
"To join PSICOM would have meant splitting the family apart, but to join the GC... She could stay in Bodhum."
If he was wrong about Lightning's drive and reasoning (and he very well could be), Cid had no way of knowing. He could only guess based off of what he knew. Farron had thrown away the world to try and save her sister during the Purge, so something as minuscule as picking up a job and staying in her hometown seemed all too logical to pass that reasoning by.
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Claire looked off as if disinterested, but to her chagrin even she knew it was a very thin veneer indeed. Her mind was quick to jump into overdrive at the information- information she hadn't expected the man to actually be able to give her. While at first it didn't seem to help her much towards trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that made them so different, after a moment the exact oddity in his guessed-at explanation was quick to stand out.
By the time Claire's mother had died, Serah was just about already old enough to take care of herself, several years past the point where Claire had secured a place in PSICOM's training program. While not everyone stayed with PSICOM, of course, even if she assumed something was flat-out wrong in Lightning's head... the account still seemed off in Claire's eyes.
That said, she'd already noticed that when Lightning had been at Balamb Garden that she and Serah seemed somehow even closer than what she'd experienced with her own sister... and not just because of the gaping rift that had been cast between them back in Claire's world, when it had turned out they'd both been marked by fal'Cie on opposing sides. Before that, too.
Realization flickered to life inside of her. Their parents' deaths... was that why?
Lightning clearly hadn't been commissioned; everyone who knew her always referred to her as a sergeant... and suddenly, Claire couldn't help but think of that last picture ever taken of her mother, before she became too gravely ill for photos to be 'allowed'- it also happened to be the first one featuring her oldest daughter with officer's wings pinned to the front of her dress uniform, near the end of the graduation ceremony for cadets coming out of the Academy.
Claire's head ducked slightly, frown tugging harder at the corners of her lips.
"I see," she said, as neutrally as she was capable of. However, the question lingered: if she'd been left without her parents at a much younger age, would things have turned out so radically divergent? Changed to the point where the Brand on her chest took on the appearance of what she'd been trained all her life to believe was the mark of evil?
no subject
Well, it wasn't exactly very much to receive in response, but that had always been the norm in their conversations, had it not? This time, though, there really wasn't incentive for him to continue rattling away (not that Cid Raines ever rattled, of course), but there was also the matter that he simply didn't have more to give her.
Even if he exaggerated, he couldn't claim to be a friend of Lightning Farron. To extrapolate the data he had gleaned from her files only went so far, and as good as he was at connecting the dots, Cid never was and never would be a mind reader--something that held a fair bit of weight here as well. Claire's thoughts may have been kicked into overdrive at his words, but to him, she only appeared more sullen and unfriendly at his answer.
Again, he wondered why she bothered to ask if all it did was upset her.
Whatever her reasoning may be (convoluted or otherwise), that was all she was going to get out of him unless she pressed further. Cid looked away, gaze trained on the scenery outside once more. His thoughts turned to the small collection of novels he had taken along for the journey; maybe this would not be such a bad time to get one of them out. Theirs was a long trip, and for the two of them to become easy conversationalists would take more than a handful of Q&A sessions from the both of them.
part the second
If this kept up, it would really only be a matter of time before Claire finally set the entire forest on fire- not just to feel a little warmer, but to be able to declare once and for all that this mission was finished. Her toes and fingers felt numb and her nose was running as she sighed and leaned against a tree, lifting a hand to press the back of it against her burning face.
Just because she was determined not to let the chill affect her usefulness didn't mean she wasn't going to be thoroughly miserable about it the entire time, after all.
If she tilted her head slightly, she could see the glimmer of her barrier through the trees some way off, attempting to pin in any more of the targeted monsters here; keeping it at such a wide radius - and for so long - was unusual for her, and the more time that ticked by, the more she was starting to feel the effort seeming to tug at the Brand etched onto her chest. Agitating the creatures that were supposed to be there didn't help.
That said, while the thought that there would likely never be an end to the beasts was only trumped in frequency by her hate of the cold, she was finally starting to feel like they might just be done at last. She'd seen no more blobras since very early that morning, and the things weren't exactly known for their ability to remain stealthily hidden, right...?
Huffing a visible breath, she pulled out the long knife she'd brought along from its sheath at her hip, turning to etch out an X on the bark of the tree she'd chosen to lean on- beneath one already carved there. This was the second time she and Raines had been by this particular pseudo-clearing.
"I say we give it up for the day," she said carefully, voice raised just enough to be heard over the quiet sounds of condensation shifting the boughs of the surrounding trees, "If there's any more here, the evidence will be more obvious after they've been left alone for a few hours."
no subject
Despite all of this, he kept his mouth shut as he scanned the forest for more blobras. Within this fenced off area of the forest, it was dead silent, save for the faint creaking of the branches up above, laden with snow as they were. The monsters always did seem to come back at the most random of times--sometimes in small numbers and other times a little more. It was, in all truth and honest, very irritating that the things kept on coming back. The fights were never difficult, but having to kill the monsters over and over and over again took a bit of a mental toll.
He turned at the abrupt sound of metal meeting wood; twice now they had been here. Cid sighed heavily and looked away again, merely nodding his head at her words. As it stood, they had little to gain if they stayed out here any longer--aside from a nasty case of frostbite. Besides, they'd already been out here for hours combing this area, and while neither of them were the types to show weakness, both knew of the exhaustion that could--and would--set in after holding up that barrier for so long.
(Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea that the headmaster had sent the two of them after all. At least that way they could rotate...)
Cid gave the forest one more look, narrowing his eyes slightly to focus on the area beyond the shimmering barrier, and when he found nothing, he finally stomped his way over to where Claire stood. "It'll be dark by the time we return to the inn," he said, murmuring so that he wouldn't disturb the relative quiet of the woods. "Let's head back."
no subject
While there wasn't actually any sensation of that power coming back to her, she at least liked to pretend, grateful for the release either way. She felt her mood actually lighten just slightly as she wasted no more time in taking lead back towards where they'd been staying-- and the warmer air of indoors, coupled with an extra blanket or three specifically requested from the staff. Her experience in the wilderness was no doubt less extensive than that of her GC-aligned counterpart or probably even the man she was with, and it was no secret she wasn't enjoying it; nevertheless, at least her sense of direction was impeccable, leaving her capable of huffing her way about with a touch of independence here.
Not that she wasn't being careful still... for the most part. To be honest, she didn't really have much reason to assume that any danger would miss being seen or heard coming with plenty of time left to spare for taking responsive action.
As such--
It was almost too late before Claire realized that the sense of unease she was feeling wasn't any part of her host of mixed-up emotions over this whole thing... and was only getting stronger by the moment. Abruptly her steps slowed to a halt, her body stiffening.
"Wait," she said quickly, tone stressed enough that there had to be no questioning that she wasn't messing around. Already she was backing up, retracing her steps backward with evident alarm. "There's something--"
-- In the ground.
Scratch that, it was too late, because an instant later found the former lieutenant cutting off her words with a yelp of surprise instead, smacked into from below and the side by that unseen something with enough force to get completely swept off her feet with a flurry of disturbed snow.
Which was not-so-funny, considering nothing that was supposed to be living in this forest was typically known for ambushes.
no subject
Drawing enemy fire from an ally had, in some aspects, been a part of his training back with the GC, but it was not, admittedly, something that becoming a l'Cie had actively encouraged--not until he started working as a SeeD here though. All the same, the action had been so fluid that it'd not been until after he'd already thrown haste and protect on himself that he realized that he was drawing the creature away from the lieutenant to give her some time to recover--what little of it that she needed, at least. It wasn't that he was regretting the action, but considering the hostility that had built up between them, Cid was perhaps a bit surprised that it still came so naturally.
Cid had no time to dwell on the matter now, though, as a hand lifted from the snow, rising up and up before slamming down toward the ground; he was forced into a defensive position as the fingers threatened to crush him. His gaze searched for Claire in the mess of monster limbs, chunks of falling snow and ice, but every time he thought he spotted a flash of pink hair, the vysage would draw his attention once more with a grotesque sound or a deadly swipe.
Once or twice, he'd manage to toss out a spell--another ruin, a deprotectga--but again and again, he'd be forced back into a guarding stance. Cid didn't dare call out to Claire lest the monster's attention returned to her, but he did wonder... He knew she wasn't the sort to back down from a fight. That said, would she leave him to fend for himself? It didn't feel like she harbored murderous thoughts toward him anymore, but the doubt was deep-seated enough for him to question her loyalties.
With that thought in mind, he thew a poisonga at the creature, only for it to be cured away a moment later. So the plan of slowly but surely chipping away at the thing's life seemed to have backfired rather stupendously. A sardonic grin pulled as his lips as Cid rolled away from another blow from one of the hands. Hmph. Hopefully his "partner" here was just waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. Cid didn't much fancy dancing around with his opponents.