[LOG ; semi-open] Of War, Politics, and Love.

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

Characters: Garnet, Zidane, semi-open to those on board the Invincible.
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: The evening of Vayne's assassination, Garnet needs to do some talking.
Location: Aboard the Invincible, En Route back to Lindblum
Date: The evening after the Heads of State meeting, and Vayne's Assassination.
Warnings: TBA

By the time Garnet had stopped shaking, stopped spouting half-formed utterances of disbelief, stopped feeling as though she were going to faint, several hours had passed, and the Invincible was en route back to Lindblum. Zidane had seen to her shattered psyche, and she only half remembered clinging to him, trembling like the last leaf on the tree. How long she had done so, before he'd removed them both from the prying eyes of strangers, she did not know. People had screamed, Rosa had fainted, and Cid had barked commands The only one really anything close to composed. Now, as the evening grew darker outside the windows of their airship cabin, the cries of Ashe's babe long ago quieted, the reality of the situation had begun to sink in for the Queen of Alexandria.

Vayne Solidor was dead.

Dead in the most brutal way possible. Worse, Garnet thought, than any of the atrocities she'd seen on any individual during Gaia's wars. She was never a front line soldier on a battlefield, and had been spared the sight of twisted, maimed figures. But she could not get the images of that afternoon out of her head. One moment, smiling, and she anticipated the disappointment she would have to deliver. The next moment, gone, in a display so vile, she'd nearly been sick.

And there she sat, outwardly calmed, but her mind in turmoil. Not a word had passed her lips since she'd stopped her horrified murmurs. In her hand, she cradled the Ring -- the one Vayne had given to her some months ago, and the one she'd been planning to give back to him when she gently as possible turned down his proposal. It was irrelevant now.

Closing her hand around the ring, she finally moved, setting it on the alien-designed table-top beside her chair.

Comments

[tantalus-born.livejournal.com]

"That's not true. You know the Regent always listens to you. And I was listening," he gave her a bit of a grin.

"Besides, it seemed like a lot of them had their own...issues. They weren't really listening to anybody but themselves."

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

Dagger sighed heavily, unable to wipe the frown from her face. "I know Uncle Cid listens, but he has his hands full juggling everything. And this isn't the first time it'd been like that! It was that way last time, too, and the time before that. Our numbers grow, but I'm beginning to feel as though the interest of Gaia's people means nothing to them."

For all her refinery, her kindness and generosity, Garnet til Alexandros was a protective, possessive queen. Alexandria was her home, her responsibility, and all of these in turn belonged to Gaia. She she belonged to Gaia, and as much as she wanted these displaced foreigners to be seen to, and made comfortable, the idea of them waltzing in an usurping everything they'd striven for in the past several years made her want to scream!

[tantalus-born.livejournal.com]

"Well, you know, the interest of Gaia's people probably doesn't mean anything to them," Zidane could see things in the...more selfish context that most people functioned in and people like Garnet and the Regent seemed to miss. "They probably want to go home, or baring that they probably want to get as much as they can for themselves if they are stuck here."

Was it something of a jaded outlook? Sure. But zidane was used to seeing that part of people. He could see good in them too, but overall he had to assume that if they were ignoring Gaia's leaders, they didn't particularly care for Gaia itself. "Next time just have a meeting with you and Cid and...who is running Burmecia now? And just tell the 'extra leaders' what you decided?"

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

"We can't just do that," Dagger argued, weakly. "Uncle Cid asked for their input, and even asked them to aid in the governance of the displaced towns and cities. They're just as much a part of the current political balance as we are, and if we sour relations with them by excluding them, it could lead to another war."

The idea was beyond upsetting; after what they'd all gone through just a few years back, the idea of countries mowing each other down, tearing themselves and each other apart was a frightening and all-too-real possibility. "I just wish they would listen to those who actually know the history of this world."

[tantalus-born.livejournal.com]

"You could do it. You think they don't have meetings without you? Meetings of just people from their own worlds?" Zidane didn't want to be pessimistic but he just...wasn't sure how much he trusted these people yet.

He ran his hand gently down her back, "look, don't worry about it tonight, alright? Just try to...relax." He suspected she wasn't going to get any sleep, but he did want her to. It had been a long day.

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

Garnet stared at Zidane incredulously. The insinuation that among their gathered lot, were betrayers, others quietly plotting their own ideas, was even worse than the clear and present clash of ego's at the meetings. At one time she might flat-out refused to believe such a thing, but in the course of one day, things had changed drastically. Vayne had done nothing but good for Gaia, and yet someone had seen fit to see his life ended; and there was no shortage of people in their ranks that had seemed none-to-fond of him for reasons she could not fathom.

"They couldn't-- surely they wouldn't! Our goal has always been for unity and peace in all the chaos. More any of them, Vayne was such an example to follow. This world was not his, and yet he stepped up to give leadership and order to those who needed it, did not slander anyone else, didn't..."

The anger flushed from her face, corners of her dried, pale lips falling into a frown of a different sort. She was still half-numb to the situation, had been completely disconnected since it had happened. But now, it was sinking in, registering in ways she hadn't allowed until that moment. She was reminded of her mother, grotesque and stained like a harpooned whale on the shores. It blurred in her mind, mixed with the sight of blood and tangled hair, the crumbled form of a broken man beside Larsa...

Tears crept into her eyes, and slowly rolled down her cheeks.