IC Inbox for Empath

[innermonologues]

Messenger Bird/Voice/Image/Action

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[innermonologues]

Auron, Unless Leon was a really fertile 9 year old, I'm pretty sure he's not my dad.

[nofarplaneyet]

[Auron gives him a glare that tells him what he thinks of that choice comment.]

I'm not finished, Beauty, so calm down before you rush to judgment.

Like I said, Tidus hated his dad. To be fair, before I met Jecht, he had severe problems in being a good parent so that hatred was not unjustified. There was another, bigger reason for it.

Jecht was a blitzball player. To sum up, it's a sport that's played underwater in a sphere elevated in a stadium so everyone can see. Jecht also happened to be one of the greatest players that ever lived and that is no exaggeration.

So when Tidus had dreams of becoming a blitzball player himself, everyone in town just thought it was so great he wanted to honor his father's memory and follow in his footsteps.

I think you can take a guess how thrilled Tidus was at the constant comparisons.

[innermonologues]

...Oh. I guess... I can see where you're going with this.

[nofarplaneyet]

The problem is that he couldn't shake that at all. No matter where he went, someone would compare them.

He could have easily done something else with his life, but this was his passion. So he decided he would be the best player on his own merit. And it worked. He became someone to admire in his own town and through Spira during another pilgrimage.

What I'm getting at is you're not going to be able to avoid the comparisons. The thing you have to decide is how you're going to let that affect you. You could decide to just push everyone away and let Leon take over. Or, you could be better than Leon in everything. Or you could make friends with the guy. I don't claim to know how many friends you have here, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be too happy that you gave them up because some other guy is running around that's similar to you.

Leon wasn't the one who offered to fight me when I first got here and I was still trying to figure this place out. That was you. I might make friends with Leon, but I can't picture myself playing ring toss with him. Or making fun of Captain Friendship.

[This might actually be the most Auron has talked to anyone in Empatheias at one time. He has to drink water.]

[innermonologues]

[ Squall turned his head to his glass instead and tries to hide his face, but his ears were turning red. ]

[nofarplaneyet]

So it's up to you, Squall.

[To be fair, Auron also doesn't feel protective over Leon either. That guy didn't need help. Squall though? Might just need a little bit of extra guidance.]

If you're still not sure what to do, that's fine. Go get more advice if that helps you come to a decision. Just don't sit there and do nothing.

Lecture over. [He's going to work on that stew, thank you. He might be more open to answering questions in exchange since he did an awful lot of talking at Squall.]

[innermonologues]

I was planning on talking to him.... it just... I have to motivate myself to do it... it's... kind of terrifying in a weird way. And I feel pathetic...because among all these other stupid thoughts in my head I think..."What if he doesn't like me?" How pathetic is that?

[nofarplaneyet]

It's not pathetic. It's kind of natural to be that thrown by running into an echo of you.

The sooner you get it over, I guarantee the better you'll feel.

[innermonologues]

Telling a teenager to "get over it" is stepping on a huge landmine, Auron.

[ Squall's lips form a small smile though. ]

[nofarplaneyet]

That's true. I lost count how many times Tidus told me where I could go after telling him something he honestly needed to get over. Something about his sport just brings out the worst player drama.

[Tidus is a way happier and upbeat person than Squall, but both of them suffered from teenage angst. He couldn't help but smile in return.]

[innermonologues]

He kind of sounds like Seifer.

[nofarplaneyet]

Who's that? Someone at that wherever you went to train to be a mercenary?

[innermonologues]

Mm. Balamb Garden, my home for 12 years. He was there with me ever since... I can remember.

[nofarplaneyet]

What's your home look like? You feel like showing me?

[innermonologues]

[ He falls silent for a while before he starts sending Flashes of images through their shared link. ]

[nofarplaneyet]

Very advanced compared to Spira. Though a lot of places are. So you and Seifer learned to be mercenaries at this Garden. You with anyone else?

[innermonologues]

It was a big school, not the bigggest, but it was the main one of the three gardens.

[nofarplaneyet]

So there's multiple Gardens that teach you how to be mercenaries? Do places not have standing armies where you're from? [Now he's just genuinely interested in letting Squall talk since he's usually not this open.]

[innermonologues]

The Gardens are sort of there to... help enlist the ones who graduate into armies all over the world, or you can also become a member of SeeD. Which... is basically the mercenary part. The Headmaster gets requests and chooses which missions he wants to send us on.

[nofarplaneyet]

All right, I think I understand. [So they were military academies and a mercenary outfit.] I take it you graduated from there before you ended up here?

[innermonologues]

Before I came here, my oh so bright Headmaster gave me the position of Commander of the Garden.

[nofarplaneyet]

[Auron actually starts at that because he thought he heard that wrong.]

Aren't you only about 17? Not that you couldn't be a capable leader but didn't you just graduate?

[innermonologues]

[ Squall sort of gave him one of those " Yeeeeeeep." sassy looks. He takes a sip of his water. ]

Destiny, I guess...

[nofarplaneyet]

Hunh. Well, Tidus is your age. He had a lot of things thrown at him in our last pilgrimage. [It occurs to him then that he'd forced Squall to do a bit of talking about a very personal matter. Even though he did share a story, Auron isn't sure how much he's actually told Squall about himself.]

Considering all that I've made you talk about today, you can ask me a question. Only fair.

[innermonologues]

It's not really... like I told you anything exciting.

[ He plays with his glass of water a little. ]

I wouldn't know what to ask...