#rytir

[loyalrage--archived]

“ it’s better to expect disappointment. ” / rytir

@rytir

Most people had always found the way Fujin communicated challenging. To put it simple. Her decidedly curt way to state her opinion, usually with no more than one word, was enough to make instructors despair, leaving fellow students frustrated and strangers - well, strangers often simply made haste to get away from her as far and as quick as possible.

Seifer however had mostly been annoyed, at least in the beginning. Whenever she answered his questions with decisive one-word-answers, he’d click his tongue in impatience, often followed by an exasperated (and honestly boring) monologue about how people usually talked and that she should abide by society's rules. 

Yet, Fujin was a stubborn woman and after a while (gaining the tall blond’s trust and friendship having been the biggest step) he even started to try and make sense of what she was saying. Hyne, sometimes she even believed he was close to understanding her as well as Raijin did, maybe better even.

So when they walked along Balamb beach that day, she was sure he could already tell that the gears in her head were turning from the way her fingers fidgeted, never really resting. They had been back for months now, but had never spoken much since. Or spend time together, for that matter. Everything had changed since that hyne-bedamned war ended and left even their friendship in shatters. Something she decidedly wanted to mend.

Halting then, she huffed, her whole body tense and rigid, hands balled into fists as she stared up at the ex-knight with her ruby eye, something intense shimmering beneath the usually hard and forbidding surface. Her mouth twisted slightly, grimacing, as if the words she was choosing carefully now tasted bitter. Finally, her shoulders relaxed as the silver-haired woman averted her gaze.

“APOLOGY.” It wasn’t that she had any problem with apologizing to Seifer - she even felt it was in order. However, the way he had looked at her when she left him to Leonhart’s devices haunted her ever since.

A scoff sounded from the tall blond then. “Don’t,” he spoke lowly, barely audible over the crashing of nearby waves. “It’s better to expect disappointment.” At that, her gaze shot upward again, a painful pang in her chest at the dismissive words countering her try to mend what had been broken. “Should’ve known Garden got y’all under it’s thumbs, really,” he continued, pouring more salt into the wound.

Fujin’s jaw set then as a by now familiar feeling of helplessness threatened to creep up and settle in her gut. She hated it. Her form was now shaking, both from suppressed anger and hurt, her being unable to find a release for both. “NEGATIVE,” she finally pressed out, almost choking on the word. Why couldn’t he see that both her and Rai had done what they did because they weren’t able to reach him anymore? 

Maybe, if she broke her resolve and habit to use more words by way of explaining, Seifer would understand?

But before the thought could truly settle in her mind, let alone her being able to think of something more worthy to say, the ex-knight had turned around swiftly to leave her standing there, heading back to the town.

[cultivatxr]

@rytir​ whispered: “Ah, fuck it.”

          Send “ah, fuck it” to shove my muse up against a wall for a surprise kiss 👀

She hadn’t for a second seen it coming; the inevitable need to silence the incessant prattle that had toppled so effortlessly from her mouth. Aerith had always been a talkative thing; perhaps even overly familiar in the way she shared so much of her self through vocalised thoughts and ideas, entire worlds painted so vividly with poetic ideation for the consumption of those around her. He could’ve just told her to shut up. Could’ve gagged her even, with more success than this.

The display of uninvited intimacy was all too abrupt; the startled clamp of her teeth tearing through unfamiliar flesh as her body found itself precariously sandwiched between torso and wall. She could taste him then, in the oddity of proximity, the scarlet smear of life infused liquid tainting alabaster flesh as the intrepid expedition of an unfamiliar tongue sought to explore terrain to which he had no right.  Who the hell did he think he was? Certainly not Casanova given the level of contempt he’d greeted her with, so why the delay in pushing him away? Why the impulsive and, dare she say it, confusing desire for an extension to something so undeniably infuriating? 

Delicate hands had lingered on his shoulders for long enough; a good ten, maybe even twenty seconds, before the startled adrenaline within her veins had calmed, and she’d given him the obligatory shove, cheeks flushed and eyes indignant, her lips still noticeably marked with his own personal sanguine stain. 

Irrevocably flustered, the ancient had squirmed, a solitary finger prodding harshly into Seifer’s chest by way of warning, as she chewed her suddenly limited words so very carefully. “If you do that again, you’re losing teeth.” 

[yunhuntress]

@sunny-explosions​ @corditeheart​ @rytir​

“Allow me to steal you away ladies. He can hit the showers instead.”

[zakarpati]

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Rytířský souboj na ostro. To není jako výstupy skupin historického šermu u nás. #historickyserm #souboj #rytir #rytíř #rytiri #rytíři #Ukrajina #Karpaty #Zakarpatí (v místě Dovhe, Zakarpats'Ka Oblast', Ukraine) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHBnkDjMnA/?utm_medium=tumblr

[loyalrage--archived]

@rytir

There is a quirk of a blond brow, peaked with curiosity. Just what was Fujin doing? At first he wondered if she was running to hide behind the dear Commander, her clothes finally shown when faced with danger, but instead she stops between them. Well. That was interesting. Another performance of loyalty. It’s more likely she’s just afraid now and knows if she talks, it would be the last mistake crossing him she’ll make. He is not letting anyone get in the way between him and his freedom - he has to remember that.

“See? Positive. I’d listen to the little lady if I were you.”

Squall’s eyes narrow. Ice blues look around their imminent location, nothing there is no blood from them or from any monster that’s fresh near by. Seifer’s face is red despite that fake calmness. He’s pissed. Fujin has a fresh cut on her cheek and bounced off and away from Seifer. He’s spared enough with Seifer to know as much as he loved the sound of his own voice, screaming wasn’t part of it.

They’re lying. But ultimately, he can’t make them tell the truth, can he? No one’s ever been able to get Seier to do anything without it being his idea. So instead of focusing there, his gaze turns towards Fujin. She hates him, for reasons he doesn’t understand. Instead of asking, he felt it was just better to stay out of her way. He hates that feeling of still caring what people thought of him.

“…. Right. Just a reminder Seifer that we’re still in negotiations. If you harm anyone on Garden property, I can’t help you.”

“It’s me that’s helping you. Remember that.”

Squall exhales. He’s not indulging in this childish back and fourth. “Just stay out of trouble. You make people uneasy. Eyes are on you.”

“Well, I hope they’re getting my good side.~”

The conversation is going nowhere. Squall takes one last look at the two of them before being slow to leave, no doubt his ears still lingering. Seifer suspects someone will be tailing him for a while now, as long as he’s in here.

“Can you imagine, I make people feel uneasy.” He scoffs, feigning offence when the reality was he loved every second of hearing that. “You know I’m not thanking you.”

Fujin stood rooted in place, her full attention fixated on the commander as he felt the need to interrupt them. Her chest was heaving from the sheer amount of willpower it took her to not jump at the man and attack him, her frame visibly shaking.

While she resolved to not move her bad arm, the fist of the other was clenched almost painfully, jaw set. She knew better than to jeopardize Seifer’s chances of whatever it was he was negotiating here, but if she ran into Leonhart outside of Garden… well, her threat would likely have sounded a lot like what Seifer had just told her a few moments ago. He wouldn’t be safe from her.

Fujin could see the looks of iceblue eyes as they darted about, trying to make sense of the whole situation but finding no evidence to what might have happened other than a friendly spar gone too rough. She didn’t need him to believe them - didn’t even want it.

While both men exchanged words, Fujin stood rooted in place like a statue, gaze darkening by the second before she released a low hiss at the words Squall finally left them with. By the moment Leonhart turned his back, her fist started unclenching and clenching again, hovering over where she had sheathed her Chakram, she having half a mind to pull it and have it lodge into the hated man’s back. As foul a move as that might have been.

“...BASTARD,” she finally hissed at length, releasing the breath she had been holding with it. She was still rigid, her whole body tensed up and no way to release her fury, so without preamble she made a hasty turn towards the tall blond as he decided to address her again. “RIDICULOUS!” She wasn’t referring to the fact that people felt uneasy around Seifer, but to the display of the commander puffing himself up like that and sticking his hyne-bedamned nose into things that were none of his business.

Seifer’s next words had her breathe in deeply, before she shook her head. “NO NEED.” As if she was out for him to be in her debt. He should know better. Her gaze wandered up again then, thoughtful for a moment. Thinking about it, he did in fact not seem to know better anymore. If he ever had.

She hated that small kernel of doubt he had been able to sow within her and brushed it aside quickly. War changed people and if someone would be affected by that, it would be Seifer. The tension lingering between them prior seemed to have evaporated, if only for the moment, so when Fujin sighed, she gave the tall blond a curt nod and, despite it all, the faintest smile. “BALAMB TOWN.” It’s where he would find her. Should he care to seek her out. To settle the score or whatever he might have on his mind then. For now, there was nothing she could think of to say, being incredibly bad at it at any rate. Thus, she turned away from him, intending to leave the Training Center.

[loyalrage--archived]

@rytir

That shift in him was the only way he’s survived since the war ended. It’s kept him on his feet when he was bloody and dying. It pushed him to take where he could and never give back. It was the reason he found another group of mercenaries and clawed his way to the top. This was who he’s become in order to not only survive but to thrive.

The switch is going off in his head. Seifer has always played by his own rules but there is a level of ruthlessness required to ensure your own survival when you have been left behind and abandoned without a home to return to. Get rid of attachments. Get rid of sentiment. Get rid of anything and everything that will hold you back because the only one who will ever look after you is you. This mantra is repeated in his head as he steps forward, swiping away the fire that was deflected with the tip of his gunblade scraping the dirt below as distance was closing.

Fujin was not a threat to his body. She was a threat to his mind, to provoke this out of him with what felt like no effort. It had been years since anyone from Garden, from his home, so much as laid eyes on him, much less attempted a conversation. Maybe he forgot just how well others knew who he used to be. That wasn’t who he was anymore. He didn’t want to be reminded of that sorry, pathetic, sad boy anymore.

Trying to take him back there was going to be her lethal mistake. He’s never going back. He can’t go back.

His steps continue until he’s back towering over her, that expression unchanging  as one arm extends out, his hand resting on the tree behind her and acting to cage her in. Hyperion acts as the other part of the cage, except her blade is pressed against Fujin’s cheek.

Seifer exhales deeply, unforgiving eyes full of condemnation baring down at her. He’s here for a reason. He cannot forget that. As much as he would love another war, his religious convictions paired with his own freedom can’t let it happen the way she wants it to happen. If he screws up now, everything he built will go up in flames and he will have to reinvent himself all over again, starting from the bottom.

Fujin is not worth that. That’s what he tells himself and what begins to cool the rage that is demanding be expressed. He licks his lips before he speaks.

“Mark this day on your calendar, Fujin, because its your new birthday.” If he didn’t have a goal here that her death would imminently destroy - his gunblade would have cut through her, right here and right now. No one is getting in his way this time, including himself. He will be damned if she has that power over him, be fucking damned.

He has to whisper, to hiss - otherwise he doesn’t trust himself to not keep screaming.

“But outside these walls, you aren’t safe.”

Rapid footsteps are heard, and none other than the Commander himself makes an appearance, alerted having heard too familiar yelling and the sound of magic being cast. Normally a thing wouldn’t earn his attention from the Training Center, but he knows Seifer’s loud mouth when he hears it. He comes prepared, his own gunblade already drawn. Seifer is already pushed away from Fujin, the expression evaporating into thin air and replaced with an almost cheery grin, Hyperison slung over his shoulder once again.

“Commander! If I knew you were going to show up, I would’ve practiced my curtsy.”

“What’s going on here?” Squall asks, eyes cutting straight to Fujin then back at Seifer.

“Training, in the Training Center. Duh. Isn’t that right, Fujin?”

Was she being sentimental for keeping that small hope up inside herself that somehow, someday, she would be able to be at least somewhat close to Seifer again? That there might still be ways to mend what had been broken? A lot of people certainly would deem her even naive for how she had not even tried to fight for herself, instead opting for a defensive approach. When Seifer now closed in on her, she could feel a dropping feeling in her stomach, pooling their ice cold and foreboding. He would not simply stop by hurting her. And she was at a loss of what to do. There was no way she could retaliate, not against him. Thus, when he reached her and trapped her against the rough bark of the very tree he threw her against, she released a slow breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, almost synchronously to Seifer’s own exhale. There was a sharp sting against her cheek where Hyperion’s edge grazed her skin now, drawing blood, but she ignored it, her ruby eye instead resting with determination on the tall man’s face still. Her narrowed eye widened only slightly when he spoke, then. At this rate, she had expected him to strike at her, at least see that she would not be able to move about for the next coming week or so (her injuries now would already throw her back on her jobs, but there was no thinking about that now). Her hand on her uninjured side lifts then, the back of it pressing against the flat side of his weapon to push it aside. “NO THREAT.” - and she wasn’t, why wouldn’t he see that? Could he even leave the Garden grounds and did she really have to expect him to hound her down in Balamb Town now that she had approached him? Not that she ever felt safe, for that matter. Yes, she might have been spared any persecution from anywhere on a political scale but that didn’t mean people hadn’t seen her and Rai at Seifer’s side. There had been attacks on both their lives, and often, but thus far, they had been able to fend those off easily enough. Opening her mouth to say something, her gaze darkened when she heard footsteps approach, Seifer being quicker to react to it than she was. Without much preamble, she cast a curative spell over herself to mend the worst of her injuries, feeling the uncomfortable way her rib was pulled back into place underneath her skin. She had been ready to brush off everything and everyone that intercepted here, but when she heard his voice, a whole world of hatred and fury started burning beneath her pale face, reflecting in her ruby eye and in the way her whole posture went rigid. Before Seifer even finished his sentence, the smaller woman had taken fast-paced steps to brush past the tall blond and halt between the both of them - far enough to the side for it to not look like she was shielding Seifer, but still in front of him, ready to lunge at the hated commander. “POSITIVE,” she hissed, accompanied by a sharp cutting gesture of her good arm as she glowered at the brunet. “BACK OFF.”

[loyalrage--archived]

@rytir

Seifer’s face darkens.

She dares accuse him of being empty? This absolute nobody who was nothing before they met has the fucking audacity to say that? She was nothing without him. Her and Rai both pranced at his heels because without him they had no purpose. He didn’t ask them to follow him - they did that on their own. He didn’t ask them to find him because he doesn’t need them - Seifer never needed them. And Fujin dares to stand here as though she has any ground to stand on on what kind of life is an empty one.

He withdraws, only enough for his free hand to snatch her wrist and pull it high above her head, no concern if he rips her arm straight out of her socket doing so. They aren’t a family. They aren’t a posse.

She can fucking rot, and he has no problem making her a corpse. When this is over.

And Seifer throws her, aim at one of the nearest trees surrounding them in the Training Center, Hyperison removed from her place on his shoulder and now extended out right with the blade pointed at her and finger curled around her trigger. Fujin is no push over. He’s expecting a reaction if not a flat our retaliation. Where’s your weapon, Fu? Surely you aren’t wandering around here, wandering around him, without one?

“You’re nothing without me.” He repeats. Humor is utterly absent now, his tone laced with venom and spite as he steps closer. She shouldn’t have crossed him. This is her fault. “And you should have stayed out of my way.”

You’re nothing without me, boy. I’m NOT a boy.. Oh? Are you a man? Throwing this pathetic temper tantrum.. you’re not a man. You are pathetic. ….. Nothing when I found you. Nothing you’ve become. Get out of my sight.

“NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”

Seifer isn’t fair. He’s never played fair. It doesn’t matter how you’re left standing; all that matters is that you are. She knocked his pride down, and now she has to pay the consequence. Fire raises from his free hand motioning towards her, shooting out without giving her a chance to get stable on the ground.

 There was that expression again. Fujin had hoped he’d left it behind in the war, that he had been able to at least move on from everything a little. But what she saw now was the exact same thing that had haunted him back when Rai and her had followed him every step on his forsaken way.

And she knew what it meant now that this gaze was directed her way, not Leonhart’s. She had no time to react, there was no way for her to prepare because even when he took a step back from her, she was too close in his proximity to avoid the reach of his arms as one hand now grabbed her wrist and she could feel the forceful pull upward, nearly lifting her off her feet. A painful yelp forced out of her throat then, getting choked the moment he used his brute strength to throw her. It happened too quickly, the next thing she felt was how her back collided hard with something and drove all air out of her lungs, her vision darkening for a couple of painful heartbeats. Fujin felt her body slump down like a ragdoll on the ground, head spinning from the sheer force she had been flung with.

Military upbringing had her do an immediate, quick recap of her situation. A broken rib, minimum. Her joint felt like it had indeed been pulled from it’s socket too, and by the feels of it she had a mild concussion. Called for a healing spell or otherwise curative, and soon. But much more urgent was the sudden threat which approached her now.

She could see the firespell forming in his hand before her eyes were able to focus in on it properly. Using all determination, she pushed up to her knees with her unharmed arm, flinging it across her body in time to perform a Shell, warding off the worst of the attack Seifer flung her way, burning some plants around her in the process. Huffing from the pain surging through her body, Fujin’s eye narrowed.

Pressing up and ignoring the pain, she rolled back to her feet, swaying lightly, and staring him right into his face as she grabbed her injured arm unceremoniously and forced it back into its socket the way Kadowaki had shown them years ago, the harsh movement eliciting a hiss from the small woman.

“NO.” His shout had been hanging between them for a while now, ordering her to leave. She wouldn’t. “LEFT ONCE.” And she was sorry about it, not that he seemed to care. “NEVER AGAIN.”

If he had wanted to make her angry, he had - just not for the reasons he might have anticipated. It was no anger that she directed at him. Or the way he acted towards her. The anger she felt was directed at herself.

Lifting her chin once more, she mulled over summoning a healing spell, but decided against it. Instead she straightened her posture, one hand bracing her still hurting shoulder, as she kept staring at Seifer. Her brow furrowed slightly as she gave him a crooked smile, nodding in his direction. “TOO STRONG.” And with her good shoulder, she gave a shrug. “CAN’T WIN.”

Also, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of even thinking she was ready to fight him. With him? Yes. But never would she raise her weapon against him - she hadn’t done so during the war, she wouldn’t start now.

[loyalrage--archived]

@rytir

It takes restraint not go snatch at her hand that was poking him in the chest, a growl warning in his throat as she continues. Instead, he opts to shove a finger right in her face, finger pressing against her forehead and pushing back.

“M’ here on a quid pro quo. I get full immunity from Garden, Esthar, and Galbadia in exchange for information he needs, and he’d be out of his god damn mind not to take my deal.” Like hell he’s getting cozy with anybody here. They’re no better, and her flipping it right back on him was bullshit. That’s the first thing she’s said he believed; Squall was the traitor. But instead of finding relief in that, Seifer’s face curls, both in confusion and condemnation. He knows what he remembers ( doesn’t he? ). She told him off to join Squall, how they were ‘made’ to depend on him.  She called him a puppet.

Doesn’t matter how accurate she was. He hasn’t been the same since - would never be the same again. Even right here, right now, there is an empty pit that only she could have filled and he loathes nothing has been able to fill it.

He’s only further confused at the prospect that there was no deal to be had. Well, wasn’t she just lucky that she could take part in the war and get out the other end like nothing happened. Assuming she isn’t lying, but Seifer doesn’t believe she is. Why couldn’t, for once, someone get what they deserve?

He’s getting sick of this. He’s getting sick of remembering. Considering she’s been dodging him, he had her pegged to be running off with her tail between her legs by now, never having been on the other end of his ruthlessness before. She’s seen how he works, how he digs in and watches and finds what people most don’t like about themselves, what they are most insecure about, most ashamed of, what will hurt the most - and turn it into a weapon to cut them down. Apparently, he has to push her a little harder.

He leans down now until he’s eye to eye to her. Even he doesn’t know why he’s so angry when she declared they’re still a family, but it triggers his grip to tighten on Hyperion as she continues to rest against his shoulder.

“What are you hoping to get out of this? That I’ll absolve you? That I’ll forgive you and we’ll hold hands and run off into the sunset and it’ll be like it was before?” Family. Another joke.

“Or is your life that pathetic and empty without me telling you what to do and what to think that you’re just crawling back so you’ve got some kind of purpose again?” He doesn’t need her. He doesn’t need anyone. Team work is staying out of his way. They should have stayed out of his way. “Cause if  so, you being empty isn’t my problem.”

Since they were on a, quite literal, finger pointing base now, Fujin wasn’t too surprised to find Seifer’s poking at her forehead, applying pressure so she was forced to take a step back. Lifting one hand of her own, she made a light swatting gesture at his wrist to knock it away, as if she was trying to get rid of one particularly annoying fly. He was acting like a child and she would not stoop to that level.

“SAME THING,” she retorted evenly then, going so far as to lift one shoulder in a shrug.

He had the chance for a pardon, and took it. He was here to negotiate with the traitor. And was pointing at her because he felt she’d done the same? “RIDICULOUS.”

Fujin didn’t feel above calling him out on his blatant bullshit, especially when it was undeserved. She was willing to take the blame for leaving him back then, yes. But going so far as to imply she had sided with that hyne-bedamned commander just to safe herself? No. She would not stand by this!

When he leaned down then, staring her right in the eye, the same narrowed lightly and Fujin tipped her head to the side, lifting her chin just so. She huffed once again at his words, feeling their sting but refusing to show it. He was searching now, she could feel it. The barest bit of emotion she had shown to him and he poked his fingers inside, twisting and turning until he could elicit some kind of reaction out of her. “...NO.” Honestly, Fujin had had little hope from the start that whatever it was that stood between them could be absolved by a simple apology. And quite frankly, she wished Rai was here to help her with this goddamn ordeal of not being able to communicate her emotions and thoughts like normal people did.

With Seifer, it always had been a troublesome ordeal to begin with. So she let him speak, letting silence hang between them when he finished his spiteful monologue, her features finally softening as all tension seemed to leave her there and then.

Instead, one hand raised again, finding itself placed on the taller man’s chest and applying the faintest bit of pressure there. She had never touched him in such a manner before - barely ever at all.

“YOU,” she spoke then, her eye closing, pressure of her hand increasing as she nodded slightly, “...empty.”