Seeds of Spira (Broomhandle45 and Candira)

"Hey, why the long face? We did great!" Garen grinned, arm around her shoulder as they headed out of the stadium grounds. The cops were everywhere, and so were Eddie's adoring fans. Garen wasn't sure how he felt about nobody noticing them, but he was quite frankly a little too smug with himself to care that much.

"Beat up a bad guy, learned a valuable lesson about women's breasts...Eddie got a band, what more could we want out of our first job?" he laughed. They did do great, he felt rather good about himself! Ahh...he knew this would be his calling, it was so much easier than schoolwork!
 
Lucy felt a little less victorious than her partner, but she kept a smile on her face. Out of the spirit of charity, she let him keep his arm around her as they walked, though she did briefly consider breaking it after his smug comments about her breasts. Rather than inflict pain, however, she just shot him a dirty look. "Good point," she said.

Of course, the thing that bothered her most, however, was that she had hesitated in battle. She'd made choices that were technically smart, but ended poorly. She relied far too much on her magic and not enough on her sword. And the more she thought about how she'd actually had the opportunity to hurt people, the more she knew that she was hesitating because of that. But hesitation was bad, and she needed to keep in mind that she was fighting for a reason--to protect Spira. If something unfortunate happened, it wasn't her fault. She was merely doing her job, protecting the people.
 
"C'mon," Garen grinned easily, squeezing her arm. "First job! Bound to have some bumps, we kicked ass and we're heroes...what more could we ask for?" Ever present, like usual...Eddie Lightning nodded in agreement with a stroke of his chin.

"...Say, how do you think 'Eddie Lightning and the Duchess of York' sounds?" he mused in thought. "It's been quite some time since I had a band!" This was their instructor, their emotional pillar through the hard times and the good ones. Their undeniable rock in their development, if they started doing this wrong...Garen was blaming all kinds of people for it.
 
She sighed but ended up giving in. Forced to recognize that she could either sulk or learn from the experience, Lucy decided to suck it up for now. She looked up at her partner and sighed, letting him squeeze her arm and taking some comfort. At least she got the feeling that her partner seemed to have the same kind of thoughts on their mentor and his new band. Still, she couldn't deny that it was a sweet name. She couldn't imagine a failure with that kind of name.
 
Reese was a nervous mess by the time they got back, pacing nearly uncontrollably around the fountain. Tanika was there too, resting on the bench with her leg folded over another. To say she was reasonably surprised at how well the two looked after the whole affair...well, she supposed she was more surprised at Eddie, who had four men dressed in Leblanc Syndicate uniforms jogging behind his chocobo.

This felt like a story she'd drink over, but that wasn't important for now. Reese practically bolted towards the group as Garen and Lucy dismounted.

"Did...did you find it!? Is everything okay!?" Reese said desperately.
 
Lucy was nearly knocked over as Reese came running toward her. She put her hands on his shoulders as he came over like a wreck. "Everything's alright. Your family is fine...we had some trouble, though," she said with a little frown. "We managed to get your dress sphere back," she said, reaching into her pack for it. "Here, you go. Now don't lose it again." She smiled and handed the sphere to her fellow candidate and then deactivated her own sphere, storing it again.
 
"Thank you so much!" Reese said, gripping the dressphere like a lifeline. "I'm so sorry for all the trouble!" And it would have been a lot of trouble, there probably was more than just expulsion on his plate if they didn't find it.

"Nah, it's fine," Garen grinned easily. "I got to touch Luce's butt, everything worked out in the end!" he laughed.

"And!" Eddie added in, appearing whenever he was needed least. "I found a band!" The band who faintly acknowledged their own existence with a pained wheeze, a crumpled mess near the entrance.

Tanika pinched the bridge of her nose faintly in thought, frowning. No, no...it was best not to press the matter too severely, honestly...if she hadn't known Eddie prior? She'd swear the guy was a complete nutjob. But, a job well done all the same!
 
Lucy had been about to say something about it not being a problem, and that Reese should be more cautious from now on before Garen chirped in. She slapped his shoulder and gave him a scathing look. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Reese. "Take care of your sphere." With that, she turned to her instructor. "Is there anything you need us for?" she asked him, hoping to be dismissed.
 
"You both did fine," Eddie praised easily. "But! Tomorrow is when the real training begins!" He decided, stroking his chin in thought. They had a lot to learn about the values of teamwork...

"...Sorry, what?" Garen sighed. "I spent the majority of my time getting my rear end handed to me and the real training starts tomorrow?"

"Yes indeed," Eddie grinned. "Best rest up, you two!"
 
Lucy shook her head and pressed her palm to her forehead. Of course there would be more training. That was kind of the point of coming this far, wasn't it? It wasn't like being a guardian of Spira was supposed to be easy. She felt a headache coming on. Letting her hand fall to her side she nodded. "I'll be here." With that, she bowed and took her leave, stretching as she walked back toward the dorms. She was a little sore and she was just about ready to be done with today.

"At least he has a new band," she muttered to herself, a little incredulous that something like that had happened on assignment. A shower would be good. And some time to process everything that had happened. Maybe when she looked back at it she would be amused. Maybe it would make her love her new assignment even more. Or maybe she'd dissolve under the pressure of the position, her family and the academy.

Fuck that. She wasn't going to fold because of one day. Oh, no. Tomorrow, she'd give it her all because she was going to exceed expectations. Even if she had to mess up now and then.
 
Tomorrow came with the fanfare of a band, their music triumphantly mediocre in the morning noises of birds and animals stirring from their day. Surprisingly, Garen seemed already awake and particularly foul as he rubbed his eyes with a light grumble. Whatever string of words he was saying in Al-Behd were probably nothing less of cursing every known god or spirit to music. Eddie's band was absolutely not good enough for him to forgive his teacher for it who was currently darting around to instruct and order a group of desperate fanboys who wanted to please their idol.

Somewhere, he hoped and prayed. There was a reason for the nonsense. That the famous Eddie Lightning was actually an exceptionally powerful teacher, or...or he knew some incredible skill that separated him from the rest. Or something that didn't make him seem like some kind of creep with an ego and fans coming out of his ears.

...Right now, all he was seeing was the creepy weirdo.
 
Lucy's alarm went untouched that morning. Eddie's band caused quite enough of a disturbance to wake her. She bolted upright, hands immediately going to her ears before she looked at the clock. Her heart was still racing once she figured out what was happening. With a defeated whimper, she fell back onto her pillow and tried to make the sound stop so she could get just a little more sleep. Of course, no pillow was thick enough. Really, Mr. Lightning? REALLY?

Groaning, she got out of bed and visited the bathroom for a nice shower, finding that not even the pounding water could drown it out. Sighing, she dressed for training in the academy uniform, heading to the mess hall in a less-than-jovial mood. If someone tried to tell her to chin up, she would deal them a nice uppercut to the jaw. Chin up...

She muttered to herself as she chose her breakfast items and found that this was the only place that the noise from Eddie's band wasn't overpowering. At least she could eat in peace.
 
"...Mornin, Luce," Garen with a weary sigh, collapsing onto the table with a rather dramatic groan. You know, this is what he got for waking up early...figuring that Eddie would want them up and about, instead he had to suffer listening to that horrid violation of sound that they were attempting to call music for the past hour or so. There had to be some kind of sick and tasteless joke going around...because the headmaster seemed to absolutely adore the attempts that Eddie was slowly teaching.

"...Figured our illustrious teacher would have wanted us early..."
 
And then her partner collapsed on the table. Right as she was going to eat, he found his way to the table. Ordinarily, she might have been annoyed. In this case, she decided that it was a waste of energy to be upset with Garren. She understood his pain. Of course the sting of that horrible nickname hit her, and she found herself wishing she had the energy to argue with him about it. She really hated being called that.

Sighing she set a cup of coffee in front of him and proceeded to eat her breakfast. "Well, we're definitely going to be on time for training," she grumbled, not particularly pleased about how her morning was going.
 
"If he's trying to get us in the mood to kill him, it's working..." Garren grumbled, a grunt of thanks was all she got before he took a long swig of the coffee...seemingly ignorant of the fact that it was molten hot as he grimaced in annoyance.

"Honestly! What the hell is the point of telling us we're going to be training if he doesn't even seem to remember!?"
 
She sighed and bit into a peach danish, the one bit of unhealthy food on her plate. "I don't know," she groaned. "But I sure wish he would take musical talent into consideration before taking on new...talent," she said, practically spitting out the last word. She closed her eyes and savored the pastry, choosing to focus on the sweet taste instead of the dull throbbing that was the sound of Eddie's new band's music.

"I hope they stop by the time we head out to train. I was hoping to be a little early, but it turns out that being torn from sleep by band practice pumps too much adrenaline for there to be an easy way to come down from it. I feel sluggish now."
 
"I know what you mean," he groused, slumped over the table again. For a moment...for a glorious, single moment...there was silence. And the entire cafeteria was almost afraid to say anything, in some weird thought that if it heard other people were around, it'd make more noise.

"...Is...is it over?" Garen mumbled hopefully.
 
Breakfast finished, Lucy was astonished to hear the "music" stop. No sweeter silence had she ever known. After Garren asked his question she waited a moment. "I...I think so." She smiled a little and sighed in relief. "I'm going to get some coffee. Make sure you eat a little something, okay?" With that, she took her tray to be cleaned and emptied. When she had her coffee, she grabbed a water bottle as well and hitched it to her belt. Deciding that it would be rude to leave without saying goodbye, she found Garren again and sat down.

"What do you think we're in for today?" she asked.
 
"Excellent question!" And before Garren could even open his mouth, there was the cheerful exuberance of Eddie Lightning right behind him as he practically choked on his breakfast danish with a soft wheeze.

"I have decided that you two need to work on your teamwork skills, so come with me! Quickly now, we can't waste time." he said, turning quickly as Garen coughed up his breakfast with an annoyed grimace. The guy who spent all morning with a terrible band decides to complain about punctuality? Ugh...
 
Garren's situation made Lucy sit straight in alarm. He seemed to be choking as Eddie showed up right behind him. Well, she'd probably have reacted in much the same way. He'd certainly startled her. When Garren coughed the rest up she sighed in relief, offering him a sympathetic hand and her water. "Here. You okay?"
 
"Yeah...yeah..." Garen sighed, taking a soft swig of the water. "Come on...he's trying to be serious again." Something that Eddie needed practice in...
 
Lucy nodded taking back her water and putting it on her belt again. Then they were following Eddie. Lucy couldn't help but wonder just what the hell kind of teamwork Mr. Lightning had in mind. She glanced at Garren, suddenly a bit nervous. As flaky as their trainer could appear to be, he was a trainer for a reason.
 
He lead them to one of the many training areas that the Concourse Academy had, situated around the back of the school and overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful view, but Eddie certainly seemed just a little more focused.

"Garen, Lucy...you shown great promise yesterday, however...your teamwork was lacking," he murmured. "If you were facing a real opponent, you would have never stood a chance."
 
Lucy stood next to Garren in the training area. She was aware that their teamwork had been...less than stellar, but was it really that bad? Well, maybe Eddie was right. Maybe they wouldn't have lasted. She liked to think they weren't helpless, though. Well, teamwork was important, so she listened, not really taking offense.

"How did you imagine we'd work on it today?" she asked.
 
"Easy," Eddie grinned. "You and Garen will face me today, so I can properly evaluate your potential."

"...Easy," Garen said dryly. "Are you joking?"

"I'm not," Eddie murmured. "You and Lucy are a team, Garen...and a team must rely on each other to survive, you will fight opponents far stronger than yourselves...and that is where you must harness your qualities together."
 
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