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Said with me you’d reach the sun, Oh, but we were so young. Love me ‘till the summer’s done.

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“ timberwings‌.

   she can’t help but chuckle softly before quickly imitating his expression. raising a hand, she pinches the bridge of her nose like he does usually. then in a low voice like his, she speaks. ‘ i’m not frowning. i look like this all the time. ‘

   “...” Perhaps to declare that he’s dumbfounded by her imitation of him would be an insult to the fair amount of time he’s already spent with the likes of her; yet still he stares, his judgment passes its final score with the silence that accompanies a stare alone. Squall can feel a certain pressure on his lips, an involuntary tug to it is all it takes for him to turn the other cheek before it’s too late. “Needs work.” He voices his score, humoring her actions if only for the sake of it, his back already facing her whilst he paces away with every inch of him expressing his lack of amusement.

(..Unbelievable.) 

   But, the smile on his face speaks a different tale. However he won’t let her indulge that much, that would just be enabling her further, so he evades; hides the influence. He plays his part, resting his hand over his mouth as if to conceal a yawn, only removing it when he’s sure these foreign involuntary quirks would betray him no more. “Did you need something?” He asks from over his shoulder.

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“ timberwings‌.

   her head shake, hands on her hips & she expels a soft sigh. lips curve into a small smile as she looks upon him. ‘ you do know if you frown too much, you’ll be an example of your own words. ‘

   “I’m not frowning.” He argues, with arms crossing over his chest. “I look like this all the time.” It shouldn’t be that odd, but then again not like he’s got a mirror on him twenty-four/seven to double check on that.

(..There’s nothing wrong with my face.)

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“ timberwings‌.

    she pulls her tongue back into her mouth & places her hands on her hips. ‘ only if you admit to being a meanie! ‘

(When doesn’t she think I’m being a ‘meanie’..)

    “..Then I won’t admit to it.” Last thing he wants to have to deal with is her sticking her tongue out at him for the remainder of the day.

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“Go on, keep making that face. It’ll get stuck that way.”

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Opinions? Thoughts?

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In Timber if you take the time to talk to NPCs with Rinoa in your party you truly feel just how much the cause of gaining the place’s independence means to her. Going towards the gates you’ll find some guards being picked on by “elite” soldiers, being accused of supporting the resistance and even having their children’s lives be threatened should they find that they truly are helping the resistance out. Whilst the party stands by to watch she speaks out and says that they should do something because that isn’t right because the guards aren’t trying to come across as defiant because then that’ll mean bad news for them. However after constant belittling the guards finally speak up and try to put these bully soldiers in their place, the soldiers get mad and say that they’ll kill them and without much action Rinoa shouts no and runs straight towards the conflict to try to handle it (with the party close behind her). After the clash they express that they’ll always be eternally grateful to her and what her group is trying to do, that they have her support, but not at the expense of their own children so they don’t try much, and she says she understands. 

From there if you keep talking to NPCs it really sinks in just how much of an impact it is that Rinoa’s doing this. In the PUB a drunk guy tries to bad mouth the resistance and then immediately another guy speaks out and says that they might be small and might look goofy, but that their cause is noble and that they’re doing it for people like them who aren’t brave enough to take a stand so to shut it (which he does). Going from the hotel to the train station a NPC will show up every so often, he’s a shy and stuttering mess (has an obvious crush on Rinoa/can get unlimited amounts of potions from this dude too). He wants to express how he feels for her but it doesn’t work out and instead gives her a gift (a potion) and then runs off. In the hotel, talking to the person that owns it, she expresses that she’s thankful to Rinoa for what she’s doing (but again doesn’t want to get her family in danger by outwardly supporting the cause) and that she’ll help anyway she can in the shadows, which Rinoa again says that she understands.

Though the founders of the Forest Owls were the fathers of Watts and the other guy, Rinoa’s blunt and lack of shyness with her activism has touched and given many people and children alike hope for a day where Timber will gain its independence. I feel like that’s something that’s glazed over by many. Rinoa wears the crown of rebellious activist with grace and might alike. She understands that though she’s got all of this support, it’s only logical that these people wouldn’t be so loud about it because they’ll expose themselves to danger and it’s why the Timber Owls do what they do, to give a voice to these people who’re too afraid to do it themselves. 

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Squall about Laguna: (He talks to himself too much..)

Squall: (...wait)

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Well it did get him through the first half of the game

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I’m just too powerful.

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Squall’s manners is honestly as “mean” as he’ll get. Personally if someone doesn’t want to socialize I wouldn’t consider it mean, I just see it as someone minding their own space and taking ownership of it and just you know let them do their thing but I can ALSO understand why it can be considered as something mean, more rude than anything else. Like I’ve mentioned before Squall wouldn’t deliberately go out of his way to pick on someone or consciously harm their self-esteem because there’s no gain from it lets be real here. All the boy wants is his space, his comfort zone. His mindset is that everybody’s bound to leave, everybody does, and everyone will, there’s no exception to that --- he sees it as a universal law so to spare himself the hardships that follow from getting attached to another and then having to cope with their loss he simply doesn’t let that be an option for him. Alone is best, or so he thinks. That he does it to an extreme, yes that is true, but again he’s not joking around when he makes it obvious that this is how he thinks and that’s how it’ll stay so without a doubt when someone comes along to challenge that of course there’s going to be bouts of defensiveness it’s only human nature to get defensive when your universal view of things get challenged (that’s how people get offended after all). It’s to be human, a normal reaction. His defenses spike so he does get snappy a bit, but not in the way it has been embraced over the years. I’ll use his discussion with Quistis as a perfect example of what I mean along with subtle details to tag along after that. 

It’s after the dance and she requires audience with him in after hours of the night where she finds the need to unwind, to vent, to let something pent up in her out (not going into detail just going to give the general gist). When asked to be in her company he’s curious, he wonders, and after a suspicion of his turns out not to be true he agrees to tag along. She begins to let out steam, to let out what has her bothered, and when she does his initial response is what does she want him to do about it, or why did she choose him to let that out to. That he doesn’t need to know, it isn’t his problem, everybody’s to take care of themselves and themselves alone; again Squall isn’t very quiet about how he thinks, he’s very vocal about it hence why Quistis would often say she’s understanding him a bit better over the course of the time she does manage to spend time with him. She tells him she doesn’t need him to do anything, she just wants him to listen, and then his signature quote: Go talk to a wall. I feel like that quote was just blown out of proportion as the years went on --- he didn’t say it to be a smartass, he didn’t say it to be mean, if anything he said it without any irony whatsoever. All she wanted was for someone to listen, so he felt like she might as well just talk to anything else that would be less responsive if that’s all what she wanted. He did tell her that he didn’t want anybody else’s burdens on him, because again remember that Squall’s a very huge critical thinker, so having someone else’s issues be put on him would also mean that it’ll occupy his mind space to someone else that isn’t him, so specks of concern for this person since he has an idea of what’s going on. So he just completely cuts out that possibility even. It’d allow entryway for knowledge of someone else’s state of being which he translates to some closeness. It’s why he cuts her off so rashly in such a heartless manner. And in no way is Quistis in the wrong here for being hurt, perhaps even mad over it, because after he leaves she expresses that perhaps everybody else around her was right.

Like I said in the beginning of this post if anything his manners are as “mean” as he’ll get. Sometimes he won’t even engage in conversation unless he absolutely has to and it’s required of him to do so, and when it does he only says the most minimal things to get the point across. Want to shake his hand? Chances are he isn’t going to want to shake it and will just either stare at it or look the other way. He’s complex, definitely complex, but he doesn’t make it a total mystery as to why. Yes he doesn’t go into detail of the why, but he does express very often what his mentality of things concerning these specific matters are and doesn’t shy away from it if its challenged by another so a clash is only bound to take place. It’s a process of acceptance he has to go through first.

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Fandom’s really twisted Squall up for quite a while now haven’t they? Squall doesn’t personally hassle himself to go out of his way to be a smartass or to insert some mean comment here and there, makes me wonder where this fandom’s interpretation of Squall came from (not the rpc just the ff fandom itself). Yeah he definitely pushes the “don’t breathe my air agenda” but not for the sake of being a dick, he admits that he’s complicated that he’s much more than what the surface value of him might depict, but he’s not doing it for the sake of being unlikable or come across as some heartless prick. Most of the time, even early in the game, your dialogue choices are either complete silence or some sort of reluctant way to interact with the other, but not once has there been an abrupt key smash into just being mean to the other to scare them off. He might not look it but Squall actually cares plenty for what others think of him (I think it’s a quote in the game……. ..at some point don’t quote me on that my memory of this game is still hazy but I’M 80% SURE HE SAYS IT SOMEWHERE OR THINKS IT). Knowing himself that well, that he’s that in touch with himself and thought of course he doesn’t want anybody to come too close to him because it’ll open all sorts of windows and doors to vulnerability and transparency to a guy who doesn’t deal very well (nobody does really) with abandonment, something he’s dealt with heavily. He’s a strong critical thinker for sure. All these walls he has up, are for his protection. He doesn’t want to hurt anymore, he doesn’t want to deal with such a thing that’s burned him out into what he knows he is now.

I’m extremely fond of how much of a critical thinker he is as well. If something along his day happened that he didn’t like, affected him in some way/shape/form it’ll stay on his mind and will affect his general mood, however given how to himself he tends to be it’s hard to tell when something’s going on with him less he says something and speaks up about it.

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[SQUALL WEEK] → DAY SEVEN: free choice - raine & squall

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Found an old comic and slapped some color on it! Rinoa does some important research. Lion pictures from google (if that wasn’t obvious ;) )

Bonus: Squall lion around

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This game stays true to the teen age group. “It’s like” “So like are you coming or not?” “Like did you see that?” “Isn’t he like cute?” 

I’m laughing so hard, if this isn’t accurate speech patterns.

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Here’s my card game notes I wasn’t joking when I said I had to write it down to get it awraxa.