timeandtides_backup

Characters: Squall, anyone in the Garden, the Loire family
Progress: On-going
Summary: Squall (re)meets Laguna, and family visits happen
Location: Alfitaria
Date: Probably slightly backdated, since I meant to have this up a couple of days ago
Warnings: None

It had been odd, Squall had realized, to have to reconcile the fact that Laguna was both back and didn't even remember who he was. Even with the time oddities, meeting your father before he technically met you was disturbingly bizarre. Perhaps not worse than Time Compression, but distinctly bizarre and that fact and kept bouncing around in his skull for the duration of the time it took for the Garden it get to Alfitaria.

How was he supposed to react, a small part of him wondered. What things (what stupid, ridiculous things) would Laguna want to do? What should he even expect?

He didn't have the answers by the time the Garden finally touched in Alfitaria, but by that point it was already too late. Now all he could do was try and keep his head above the water, metaphorically speaking.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Slai had to be put down to walk on her own, but Ellone hurried ahead, making a game of skipping with the little girl to get her more engaged with being there. She seemed to be enjoying things at least, even if she was a little uncertain about where they were going.

Ellone ended the skipping time next to Rinoa, gently elbowing her friend before moving to thread her arm with Rinoa's. "Sooo, how are you?" She was grinning, almost teasingly, but she really was curious. Besides, if Squall was going to be occupied with baby-holding soon, Rinoa needed to be occupied with the other little one.

Would he like to hold Brooke? He still wasn't entirely used to the idea that he had a baby sister, not to mention he wasn't quite sure he had the hang of holding her down properly. And then there was the fact that he wasn't at all sure what any of the SeeDs they ran into on the way would think if they saw him with a baby in his arms.

But... it wasn't like it would hurt anything, right?

"I... guess?"

Rinoa leaned against her for a moment before walking on arm-in-arm with Ellone, deliberately matching her strides with her friend's. She was in a whimsical mood and she contemplated the question more seriously than Ellone had probably intended it.

"I'm okay. That's kind of dull, isn't it? But I really am, I like Alfitaria, I'm glad to be with all you guys... To be part of a family. So I'm... okay."

The hesitant response didn't go unnoticed by his mother and Raine swallowed down a knowing smile. "Don't worry, she's not too much of a handful... yet." She shot a glance over to Laguna and then a fond grin emerged. It wasn't too hard to guess where Brooke's squirminess came from.

Very carefully she shifted the baby to place her into Squall's arms, then gave him a pat on the shoulder. "If you hold her up so she can see where she's going, she'll like it."

"She's pretty lively," Laguna observed aloud, stroking his chin as he feigned thoughtfulness. Just as it was clear to Raine, it was already obvious to him which parent Brooke took after. Squall seemed to have inherited his mother's serious nature and knack for giving direction. He wondered, briefly, if either child had gotten his poor navigational skills. That would just set them up for a lifetime of unnecessary trials.

"Pretty friendly baby, too. Takes to people real easily, yeah?"

Ellone smiled in response anyway. She was in a different kind of mood, too, one she'd come to associate with her childhood fiery spirit coming back out for a visit.

"Sometimes dull and boring is the best way to be," Ellone answered, walking along evenly with Rinoa and Slai. "I don't mind Alfitaria. It's so much bigger than Dali and Winhill, but it kind of reminds me of Esthar. So, I guess it's not too different from what I'm used to."

She glanced down at the little girl on her other side, still worried about how the poor child would be and had been adjusting to the sudden removal from her hometown, the only place she'd known until now. But, as Rinoa had said, they were family now. There was no way Ellone or Raine would leave Slai behind. The girl's presence had become such a natural feel that Ellone couldn't imagine a time that she wouldn't be with them. In some ways, she wanted Slai to have her real parents back - because goodness knew Ellone was more than aware of the kind of pain that came with losing one's parents - but at the same time, she didn't want to feel the heartbreak of having to say goodbye to Slai.

That line of thought pulled her expression down for a fraction of a minute before Slai pulled on her hand, clearly trying to get her to smile again. Ellone obliged easily.

"You're right, though. We're all family now. Aren't we, Slai?"

The little girl nodded. "Yep!"

Squall wasn't really sure he much liked the 'yet' tacked on to the end of that sentence, but he wasn't all that sure he wanted to know what else would happen. That way he could pretend that everything would be... something. Less inconvenient? Not as potentially maddening? Something along those general lines anyway.

Still after a moment of slight awkwardness, Squall managed to get Brooke properly arranged so that she could see where they were going.

"I... guess?" He hadn't exactly met a lot of babies; how was he to say how well they usually got along with people.

"So you're staying then?" Rinoa asked. She wasn't sure if Raine, Ellone and family wanted to go back to Dali or not.

Familial

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Just shoot me. And also LJ. ... but mostly me.

Eh, I can get shot too so ♥

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