fandomhighdorms | Magical Reserve - Behind the Cabins, Friday

Hi, people!

Dinah grinned at yet another New Cute Guy she didn't know, and said, "Hi! I'm Dinah. I saw you at the Reserves on Tuesday too, didn't I?"

"You probably did," Zack agreed, bouncing a little as he grinned at yet another Friendly Cute Girl he didn't know. "Arthur invited me, so I was there talking to Leto, and then to Arthur!"

Small world!

Small island, anyhow.

Small place, thing!

Small school, even!

"Arthur's cool like that. And we do need all the help we can get. Did you meet him at the salle or something?" She tilted her head, peering at his sword over his shoulder. "Ooooo. You fence?"

Bounce!

Edited 2009-05-22 18:30 (UTC)

"I met him at the Fight Club! He and I were paired off last Sunday for a spar. He's pretty good!" He was skilled. That was enough to impress Zack.

He glanced over his shoulder at the broadsword there, and then grinned a bit.

"I wouldn't really call myself a fencer. That's mostly about the art of it, isn't it? I use this when I'm on the job. I really only brought it today because I can't use magic without it, though."

"He's really good, for someone without super-strength or any enhancements," Dinah said. "Who won?" she asked, grinning. "And swordsman? Swordswoman. I'm just learning right now. For the last four months. Arthur's teaching me. And ooooo, yours is magic?" She paused, then stomped on all innuendo and euphemisms in her voice when she asked, "Can I see it?" Even though she was blushing. Ignore that, yup.

"Arthur won," Zack admitted, though a little sheepishly. "If I was trying to be extra strong or extra fast, it might have been different, but sparring is all about the focus and control anyhow, right? He's way better at that than I am."

He was already reaching back to grab his sword to show it off. If she wanted to hold it, she might have to brace herself for the weight of it in her hand. It was, after all, solid steel. And over half as long as Zack was tall.

"That's why I go, I don't want to get rusty on my fighting skills if anyone ever figures out a way to short-circuit my meta-abilities," Dinah said, standing on tip-toe as he reached for his sword. Not that he was that much taller than her, but she wasn't exactly patient about weapons. "So you can turn off the strong-fast whenever you want? Whoa." She gripped the sword with both hands, feeling it try to drop to the ground, and steadied it. "Whoa."

Edited 2009-05-22 18:45 (UTC)

"It's a little heavy," he cautioned, possibly as an afterthought as she took the sword. "I hardly notice the weight of it in my hands, but that's probably more because of the Mako."

Whiiiich nobody here knew about. Right.

"Which is this kind of energy that people use to make electricity and stuff where I'm from. Uh. If you're from a place that knows what electricity is. This different worlds thing is confusing."

"I knooow, it really throws you, how much you have to explain, or if people will get insulted that you think you have to," Dinah said, giving him a sympathetic look, before bracing her feet and studying the sword. "And yeah, I'm from one of the ones with electricity, and lots of science, not much magic at all, but weird abilities." She frowned. "So Mako kind of acts like anti-gravity or something? So it's got as much punch, but doesn't take as much effort for you to lift it?"

Zack managed to look very, very thankful that the girl seemed to understand more or less what he was talking about, here.

"My world has plenty of science and magic. Mostly magic. Scientists there hate calling it that, but people do anyhow. Mako is actually..."

He was going to have to take a moment to find a way to explain Mako, now.

"It comes from the lifestream, underground. People where I'm from mine it for electricity and stuff, but it can also be used on people in really controlled situations as a treatment to make them stronger and more agile. I've been treated with Mako." A beat. A grin. "That's why my eyes are so blue, actually. Mako eyes."

Dinah looked up at his eyes, then blushed again, smiling. Annnnd would've reflexively fiddled with her hair, except for having to still keep her grip on the sword. Stupid fair skin. "Ohhh. Kind of like a fuel? A magic, or, um, power fuel? So it modifies you to be a better fighter. Like radiation or something, only controlled."

"Like radiation," Zack agreed, and then made a face. "Except that sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? There was surgery involved. Everyone in SOLDIER gets treated the way I did. And-"

Wow, it was difficult to resist telling her that she was cute when she blushed.

"-And when members of SOLDIER get treated with it, the conditions have to be really controlled. It can be dangerous if it isn't done right. But it only has to be done once."

"A little, but I'm used to hearing people theorize about it. My sister's a big science geek, and there's people back home with abilities, no one's sure why. She tries to figure out if it was a virus or radiation exposure sometimes, or a combination or whatever." Dinah frowned, thinking about that, biting her lip. "Soldier. That's a group? And owww, surgery. But it came out okay with you?" she checked. Because not seeing anything wrong with him from here, no.

"It came out just fine with me," Zack agreed, nodding. See? Just fine! "SOLDIER is the name of the group, yeah. ShinRa's elite!"

And there he went, putting his hands on his hips and striking a pose. He couldn't help it. He was a teenager, filled with hormones and happy.

"You know, I don't think I ever did catch your name? I'm Zack!"

Vogue if you want to! Dinah grinned at the pose, appreciating it even if it was a little bit funny too.

"Dinah, and yeah, I forgot to ask for yours. Hi!" She bounced, then wobbled, 'cause the sword was not made to make that easy if you didn't have Mako. "Whoa. And wait, ShinRa, ShinRa-- you're from Reno's planet!" she squealed. "Gaia!"

"I am!" Zack chuckled a little as he held his hand out for his sword back, so that Dinah didn't have to heave that thing around for the rest of the conversation. "I've never met the guy, though. Lots of people here seem to know him!"

Zack's rampant curiosity was getting the better of him.

"He's mentioned ShinRa to you before, huh?"

"Uh-hunh! He used to work for them." Doing things he was no longer proud of at all. Dinah carefully handed the sword over, and tried to think how to phrase this explanation. "He was a troubleshooter, mostly, from what he's said. Meaning trouble would happen and he'd shoot it." She grinned, then sobered. "Um, I don't know if he's from the same time as you, and he never said much about their calendar or anything. So maybe he's from your future, or way in the past. He kind of left ShinRa, he's working on disaster relief now." She winced, giving Zack a worried look. "There were a couple of them. I guess. Sorry?"

"Disaster relief, huh?" Zack tilted his head, thinking that one over. "I can't think of any disasters that have happened to ShinRa so far. He can't be from the past, if that's the case. ShinRa hasn't been around for very long, either."

Disaster relief? That was kind of troubling. Huh.

"Mind if I ask what kind of disaster?"

"I wish I could tell you, exactly. I know there was an influx of monster types?" Dinah frowned. "His team went off and fought them. Most of them died. And I think something blew up. Right now, Reno's trying to get stuff to grow, get people fed, work on bringing the plants back. Ino and I ship him stuff from the store here, so he can experiment, see what'll grow best in the soil now. Something about Materia waste, I think? Being unsafe?" She sighed, wishing she'd paid more attention to the details of what he'd said. "I'm sorry, Zack. Maybe it won't happen for you, though. There's a lot of people from a lot of different Earth futures here, and they can't all come true, because some of them cancel each other out, you know?"

"Monsters kinda aren't surprising," Zack noted, rubbing at the back of his head. Huh. That seemed like a kind of bleak future, didn't it? "They're all over the place on Gaia, in my time, too."

He frowned for a moment more, and then he perked up a little and grinned at Dinah.

"I guess that means I'm going to just have to work that much harder to keep Gaia safe!"

Being a hero, here he came!

"Cool!" Dinah could totally get behind that, because destiny, fate, set in stone, pffft! She beamed at Zack, glad her news hadn't brought him down. See? That was the sane approach to that kind of possibility. "What do you guys do, working for SOLDIER? More of the same monster-killing Reno does?" She stuck her hands in her back pockets, and tilted her head to look at Zack.

"Probably! I mean, I'm not sure what your friend Reno does for ShinRa. SOLDIER, or infantry? Or something like that? But in SOLDIER, we do the big stuff." There went Zack, looking all proud of himself again. "Whatever the normal military can't handle, that's when SOLDIER steps in to do their duty!"

He gave his sword a showoffy twirl before setting it where it belonged on his back.

Dinah giggled at that, because hey, she'd seen Arthur do show-offy intimidate-you twirls every week, and Zack's was more wheeee! than his was. Still a bit I can cut off your head, no prob! though. "Cooooool." She coughed. "I mean, how long have you been in SOLDIER? You're the same age as us, aren't you?" And if not, woes.

"I'll be sixteen in September," Zack confirmed, nodding. "And I've been in SOLDIER for a couple of years, now. Long enough to make my way from 3rd Class on up to 2nd!"

This was a big achievement, darn it!

"I'll be a 1st in no time!"

A year and a half younger than her? Welll... "I'm sure you will be," Dinah agreed, nodding hard. "Being here's not going to set you back though, right?"

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