Can’t wait for this chapter to be released in the Global ver. few months from now. I don’t know what’s happening here but the banner art for this chapter is amazing. Look at how Quistis is in Seifer’s team!

Quistis’ LD in Opera Omnia

Quistis’ LD and rework has finally arrived in the Global ver. of Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. Months actually. Especially after Seifer’s LD release in July. Sadly, I was not as lucky in pulling Quistis’ LD weapon as I was with Seifer’s. I had to pity for her weapon which luckily I had most of the gems saved up.

Here’s Quistis’ banner:

So happy that her event overlaps with Ace’s. Though I was also not lucky and had to pity Ace’s LD weapon. But I did get his BT weapon in one of my pulls, so that’s all good. I actually love putting Ace or Nine with Seifer and Quistis sometimes. Just to give off that family of blondes dynamics.

Quistis’ LD ability is called Ray Whip while her passive ability that comes along with her weapon is called High-Output Light. Ray Whip also delays the enemies multiple turns just like Seifer’s LD ability, Purge. Since of course Quistis is the original delay queen, after her rework, her ability Laser Whip also now delays the enemies by one turn and deals splash damage instead of one target only. Degenerator Whip still delays the enemies multiple turns as usual, but with increased damage. There was no change to her EX ability, Homing Whip.

Let’s recall that when Seifer’s LD passive is active, after using his LD ability, all his other abilities like No Mercy, Bloodfest and his EX ability, Demon Slice X can also delay the enemies’ turns by one. It’s just super cute how Seifer and Quistis’ abilities are pretty in sync with each other now. No Mercy has always dealt splash damage but now Laser Whip also deals splash damage after Quistis’ rework. They had zero to none similarities for their abilities but after their reworks, their abilities are more in sync with each other. Seifer did not have any delay abilities before this. They are now definitely the delay couple in the FF8 roster for Opera Omnia. I would also like to say that my headcanon in which they’re training and spending a lot of time together is definitely legit

Here’s how both Quistis and Seifer’s LD abilities look like:

Quistis’ Ray Whip

Seifer’s Purge

Honestly even their LD animations are pretty in sync with each other as well with all those swiping motions they do and that upward force in the end. Just adorable really

Here’s another Seifer and Quistis vs. the Daily Hunt Cactuar battle like I did with Seifer’s LD release, but this time with Quistis’ LD ability included (and yes I purposely made them have matching golden tinged weapons together):

P.S I’m also happy I managed to beat the Lufenia stage of this event with Quistis (Seifer as her call), Ace and Aranea

Seifer and Quistis in Kurasame’s Lost Chapter

Seifer is featured as a boosted character for Kurasame’s Lost Chapter and we get his LD from this event too. Here’s the event banner:

Since Kurasame is an instructor and Commander for Class Zero himself, Quistis appeared in one of the cutscenes in Kurasame’s Lost Chapter. She appeared with Serah and Shantotto. What they all have in common are that they’re all teachers.

The scene started with Kurasame asking questions to Nine and reprimanding Jack like the instructor he is while Quistis, Serah and Shantotto were observing. And then they started talking about difficult students.

Quistis shrugged and then Kurasame appeared saying:

Then, Serah said:

Quistis agreeing that sometimes the difficult students are more interesting is my fave part in this scene. We all know her most difficult student was Seifer. And this just shows that she does find Seifer interesting. But I guess that was already mostly implied in scenes whenever she talked about him.

I also like how Seifer is chosen as a boosted character for Kurasame’s event. Usually boosted characters for lost chapters and story quests are characters who have something in common with the main character of the event or has a relation with them. But Seifer is neither a Type-0 character nor is he an instructor. I guess Seifer represents the difficult student or shows how he is a leadership figure. I just generally love interactions between ff8 characters and ff type-0 characters (mostly because they’re two of my fave ff games and I just love the characters a lot. I would always have a soft spot for Class Zero, they deserve all the happiness in the world). Their interactions are so wholesome in this game.

Since we know Seifer’s LD ability and debuff delays the enemies’ turns, I like how this bonds Seifer with Quistis and how it connects them together, even though Quistis isn’t his instructor anymore. It’s great that originally, it was just Quistis who has the delaying skill, but now only the two of them have this skill among the ff8 cast. Quistis’ other students do not get this skill, only Seifer does and I think that’s beautiful and he absolutely deserves it

In conclusion, I think Seifer as a boosted character for Kurasame’s Lost Chapter, Quistis appearing in one of the scenes and talking about him implicitly and Seifer getting delaying skills just like Quistis and being the only 2 characters that can delay among the ff8 cast are all correlated. The connection between them in this game is just nice to see and I’d like to think that it’s deliberate. They could have given Seifer any other skills but chose to give him delay skills that Quistis is famous for instead and I think that’s wonderful. We can see their bond here.

P.s I managed to beat the lufenia stage for Kurasame’s Lost Chapter with Seifer, Kurasame and Sephiroth. This lufenia specifically needed someone who can delay and I’m so proud that Seifer can fill in that spot now and that he can handle lufenia stages now. It’s just amazing and I’m truly enjoying playing as him. Can’t wait for Quistis’ LD and rework later this year (watched on youtube and her LD and rework seems to have some similarities and parallels with Seifer hehe )

Seifer and Quistis in Act 2: Chapter 3

Seifer and Quistis appeared together in one of the scenarios in Act 2. The scene only featured Zidane, Quistis and Balthier at first, with Zidane looking for Vivi. But then Seifer appeared too.

I did not expect Seifer to appear at all when I played this but when he appeared, I screamed!! I was like Quistis and Seifer in one scene???? This is just too good to be true.

So anyways, Seifer appeared when Zidane asked him if he’s seen Vivi.

I absolutely love how he casually walks into the scene and settles next to Quistis. It just seems so natural. After that Mog came, saying that he senses a friend close by and that they should go check. Then, Quistis and Balthier said this:

Seifer, wanting to seem tough (or maybe trying to impress someone?? ;)) called Balthier a chicken-wuss for saying that it would be unfortunate to meet enemies so soon.

Then, Balthier said that Seifer’s being impertinent as usual and said this:

Of course, after hearing that, Seifer’s about to throw hands but then, Quistis stopped him.

And he really did stop. I’m just really amazed at how well Seifer listened to her here. Usually whenever anyone in this game just scolds him he would usually lash out or resist. But he was being obedient. He even stopped being angry. Although, there were other pressing matters at hand, we all know that would not actually stop Seifer. It’s so nice to see his growth here. This scene might not actually be a big interaction between them, but I feel like any interactions we get from them just lets us assume a lot about their relationship dynamics.

Also, considering how comfortable Seifer and Quistis seem to be in this game, I’d like to say that they definitely spend a lot of time together. I assume this because they don’t express any displeasure being around each other and they aren’t wary with each other either, even from the start in scenes where they’re together. The others in the ff8 cast (other than Fujin and Raijin ofc) always seem to be a bit uncomfortable or wary whenever Seifer’s around. But that does not happen much anymore in the recent arcs. I’m sure they accept him as he is by now

Here’s the full scene:

P.s look at how they walk out from the scene together like that, it’s just cute

Quistis’ Lost Chapter (Balamb Whiplash)

Quistis appeared in the Opera Omnia world in a place that was similar to the SeeD Prereqs, The Fire Cavern to be exact. She then got lost in thought and was reminded of the SeeD exam. Naturally, her thoughts immediately went to Seifer, Squall and Zell. After chastising herself for getting lost in her thoughts, she met with the others from different worlds shortly after that.

I love how even though she remembers what Seifer did, he’s never really far from her mind. It was like this in FF8 too. He’s just constantly in her mind. For example, if we talked to her when we didn’t know what happened to Seifer yet, she would always be wondering about what’s gonna happen to him. Even after we found out that they grew up together in the infamous orphanage flashback scene, despite Seifer not being there, she spoke up on behalf of him too and understood him well. It’s safe to say Quistis is definitely one of the few people that understands him well. (I definitely would wanna recap some of the Seiftis scenes in FF8 on another day)

In a separate occasion, in her Lost Chapter, Quistis, Zell, Irvine, Yuna, Vaan and Hope discussed about Seifer. Zell was being his usual self saying that he wished Seifer would grow up. Vaan mentioned how Seifer, Fujin and Raijin kept picking fights with them everytime they met (at this time, Seifer still hasn’t joined the party yet). Yuna however said that they know Seifer isn’t a bad guy. Irvine then said how Seifer always takes the heavy handed approach. Then, Quistis said this:

But, we all know that’s Quistis being her Instructor self. What comes next, is the best part. Irvine said it’s really something how Seifer, Fujin and Raijin carry on doing whatever they’re doing despite not knowing what’s going on. Quistis said:

And then Zell was like huh that’s one way to put it, are you trying to defend his actions? Then, Quistis was like:

I remember that I pretty much screamed at how adorable this is. That it’s canon how Quistis has absolute faith in Seifer and wants the best for him. Despite everyone else having doubts about him, she believes in him and would take his side anytime. And how she’s not afraid or embarassed to defend him. I truly believe that Quistis has a soft side for Seifer, always. And Seifer too, even though he would likely never show it in an obvious way, has a soft spot for her too. I hope Seifer knows how much faith and affection Quistis has for him. My headcanon for Opera Omnia says he definitely knows and is doing his absolute best to keep her faith in him.

I LOVE HOW OPERA OMNIA IS SETTING SEIFER UP ON A PATH TO REDEMPTION. There are several more scenes that I find endearing featuring Seifer and Quistis. I’ve only been telling and fangirling about these Seiftis moments in Opera Omnia to my friend over the years I’ve played this game. After Seifer’s LD was released, I just thought that I’ve got to share these moments with the Seiftis community. This is currently the best we can get for canon post game content.

Seifer’s LD in Opera Omnia

I’ve been waiting for Seifer’s LD to arrive in the Global ver. of Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia for a really long time and now it’s finally here. I was lucky enough to receive it in my free first multi-draw too.

Seifer’s LD ability is called Purge while his passive ability that came along with the weapon is called Romantic Dream. What’s really interesting is that Purge delays the enemies multiple turns just like Quistis’ ability called Degenerator Whip. After his rework, all of his other abilities delay the enemies’ turns by 1 too. For everyone’s information, Quistis was known as the og delay queen in this game.

My Seiftis heart is just screaming in delight knowing that Seifer can now delay the enemies’ turns as well. Not only that, but Seifer and Quistis are the only characters in the FF8 roster that are delayers now. Now we wait for Quistis’ Rework and LD weapon which will be out in October (spoiler alert: watched some clips on youtube and I say her LD animation is pretty in sync with Seifer)

Just makes you wonder did they spend a lot of time together? Did they train together? Will Quistis be a part of his path to redemption in this game? (I think yes!!) So many possibilities that we can assume!! There are also many cutscenes that include them both that I wanna talk about but I will talk about those scenes in later posts. This game is a gem, I love how we can see the characters post-game.

If you wanna see the full battle of Seifer and Quistis vs the Daily Hunt Cactuar, watch here:

zell-dincht:

(A fanfic in the same timeline as my Unfinished Businessfic)

The hallways always seemed more crowded, somehow, at the exact moments when Zell was in a hurry to be someplace. Crowds on the way to the hot dog line - which, again, were sold out by the time he got there - and now crowds on his way to the elevator. Garden was such a big place, filled with students, and they only had one damn elevator.

“S’cuse me! Sorry!” Zell called out as he wiggled his way through the crowd. As the elevator doors slid open, he already began trying to move against the flow before the previous passengers had fully emptied out of the elevator.

As he eagerly bashed the “3” on the door panel and secured his space in the tight, confined area, Zell let out a relieved sigh and leaned against the back wall. Almost there. By the time the elevator reached the 3rd floor, Zell was the sole passenger. Most others still only used it to get between classes, but Zell had an important meeting in the Headmaster’s office.

“I made it! I’m here!” He yelled and hopped out of the elevator as soon as it let him out on the third floor.

A small group was already gathered in the foyer. Zell perked up with a wide grin to see that it was the old gang, all back together again. Squall sat on a sofa with his elbows rested on his knees, staring at the empty coffee table in front of him with his usual unreadable expression while Rinoa sat beside him, happily chatting with Quistis and Selphie. Irvine casually leaned against a nearby wall, the brim of his hat tipped low over his eyes - no doubt putting way too much effort into looking nonchalant.

———-

Read the rest at my AO3!

(A fanfic in the same timeline as my Unfinished Businessfic)

The hallways always seemed more crowded, somehow, at the exact moments when Zell was in a hurry to be someplace. Crowds on the way to the hot dog line - which, again, were sold out by the time he got there - and now crowds on his way to the elevator. Garden was such a big place, filled with students, and they only had one damn elevator.

“S’cuse me! Sorry!” Zell called out as he wiggled his way through the crowd. As the elevator doors slid open, he already began trying to move against the flow before the previous passengers had fully emptied out of the elevator.

As he eagerly bashed the “3” on the door panel and secured his space in the tight, confined area, Zell let out a relieved sigh and leaned against the back wall. Almost there. By the time the elevator reached the 3rd floor, Zell was the sole passenger. Most others still only used it to get between classes, but Zell had an important meeting in the Headmaster’s office.

“I made it! I’m here!” He yelled and hopped out of the elevator as soon as it let him out on the third floor.

A small group was already gathered in the foyer. Zell perked up with a wide grin to see that it was the old gang, all back together again. Squall sat on a sofa with his elbows rested on his knees, staring at the empty coffee table in front of him with his usual unreadable expression while Rinoa sat beside him, happily chatting with Quistis and Selphie. Irvine casually leaned against a nearby wall, the brim of his hat tipped low over his eyes - no doubt putting way too much effort into looking nonchalant.

———-

Read the rest at my AO3!

laranico:

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Trepe… But you are a verybeautiful woman.”

AU plot bunny of the day because of a dream I had. Seifer and Quistis, but the movie “The Proposal.” Enemies to lovers indeed.

Finally this bitch posted a new chapter of F is for Friends.

Show Chapter | Archive of Our Own

It me. I am this bitch.

ATTENTION SEIFTIS SIMPS. CHAPTER FIVE OF LIGFATAY IS UP GO READ NOW GO GO

Show Chapter | Archive of Our Own

wife-of-jiang-wei:

Happy 23rd Anniversary to FFVIII!!

The train from Timber picks up speed and Seifer, leaning on the window sill beside him, looks out at the passing scenery. (So why’d it have to end up like that? How was I wrong? Why did Squall get all the glory?! It’s not fair!) In retrospect, sure, it seems like he was doing the wrong thing, but what does that matter? All that matters is what is happening in the here and now, and at the time…it all made sense.
Haunted by memories and his troubled thoughts, Seifer tries to put on a brave façade for the Posse as they head for Deling. Raijin sits opposite Seifer, quietly, feeling rather awkward because of the silence that has come from Seifer being lost in his thoughts for the last ten minutes. He opens and closes his mouth a few times; chickening out of speaking up, thinking that Seifer might get mad if he breaks the peace.
“…S-Say Seifer, what’re we gonna do next?” Seifer slumps back in his seat and smiles, pointing out towards their destination. “We find our new dream.”
New dream, huh? Raijin’s heard about Seifer’s dream before…but he doesn’t really understand. He trusts that it’s pretty important though, and if it’s important to Seifer, it’s just gotta be important, ya know? So he nods and sits back with his arms crossed and his eyes closed; content with the simple answer and deciding to get some shut-eye for the rest of the journey.
Sitting next to Raijin in an upright position, Fujin understands to a greater extent, yet secretly wonders what Seifer really means. She wishes she knew what he had in mind, out of interest or maybe something more than that. Yes, something more. Maybe, so she can be sure that she can trust Seifer as well as she used to. She shakes her head, annoyed at her thoughts. NO, Seifer can be trusted, that is certain. This is Seifer, not the lost person she had seen in Esthar. This is the strong, self-assured man that she knows.
Seifer himself is satisfied with Raijin’s non-response. He can tell he has his companion’s confidence and even more than that, he has the confidence in himself again. He knows he’s right and nobody’s going to make him believe otherwise. He’s…
“Tickets please.” The conductor makes Seifer jump out of his ‘zone’ and back into reality. Raijin has woken and now sits looking nervously at Seifer. Fujin sits calmly and looks across slowly at Raijin, who was supposed to keep watch, as they’d snuck on without paying. “RAGE”, she whispers. Seifer scowls at the conductor’s feet and runs his tongue across the inside of his teeth, before standing and cockily gesticulating with a hand. “Woops, sorry, we must’ve forgotten to buy ‘em. We’ll just go ahead and pay when we get to Deling, ok pal?” The conductor looks blankly back at the arrogant blonde in the grey trench coat and folds his arms, unimpressed. “Can’t let you do that, sonny. You’re off at the next station, y’hear?” The frustrated Seifer shrugs and steps towards the conductor, drawing his gunblade. Fujin and Raijin stand as if on command, both of them annoyed at the conductor for upsetting Seifer, but Raijin feeling guilty more than anything. “What’d you say there?” Seifer says angrily. “You said we can stay on and not pay? That’s real kind of yo…u…” He trails off as the conductor quickly blows on a whistle and three Galbadian soldiers run to his aid, pointing guns at the posse; one holding open the door of the moving train carriage. “…Looks like they win today, ya know?” Raijin says. Seifer pulls a bitter face and grumbles. Fujin sees Seifer’s disapproval and promptly kicks Raijin out of the door. Seifer barely has time to be amused before he and Fujin are also sent on their way. 
(One hell of a DREAM this is going to be…)

• ((The flashback part in italics is most effective whilst listening to ‘Fragments of Memories’ from the FFVIII OST :P I listened to it as I was writing.))

Seifer becomes aware that the music has stopped and, now leaning forwards with his arms resting on his thighs, he looks up to see the now nervous waitress hesitantly taking the empty glasses. He tries to catch her eye but when he comes close, she self-consciously averts hers, so he gives up.

(The world’s my oyster.) Seifer happily stands up from leaning his crossed arms on the stone wall, looking down on the port and turns to look at Fujin and Raijin, who are standing patiently next to the shop. He has realised, watching Garden flying overhead, that you don’t have to live life by just one dream. He still believes in following his dreams, but he knows now that even if you commit yourself to one and live your life as you have imagined, there is still the possibility that things won’t turn out the way you wanted them to. Of course, things hadn’t turned out at all how he’d expected. But there was no going back; he had to see it through to whatever end and, in the end, he had thought it was exactly that. But he realises now how wrong he was. He has his whole life ahead of him still – a fresh start, where he is free to dream another dream. “Right men, the Disciplinary Committee is moving out”, Seifer commands, his left arm straight out to the side, pointing to the train station. “Our next destination: Deling City.”

“Yo, Seifer, you want another drink? It’s on me, ya know!” Raijin says enthusiastically, attempting to make Seifer feel better. Instead, it makes him feel worse. Of course, Seifer is not a SeeD, neither does he have any other form of income other than that which he finds or takes from monsters. The knight is almost flat broke and his companions know it. (I will not be pitied! Especially not by you two…) He had chosen Deling for various reasons, but mainly because it’s big and presumably full of opportunities for his ‘new life’. He hadn’t been wrong; the city is thriving, even without a current President. However, the Galbadian people resent the manipulation and oppression they were put under by the sorceress and, worst of all, Seifer’s prominent position at her ceremony has seemingly not been forgotten.

He places both of his gloved palms firmly down on the table top and gets to his feet. The waitress takes a step backwards; a reflex that Seifer notices, and annoys him further and gives him an uncomfortable pain in his stomach. (I feel sick. Am I that repulsive?) “Knock yourselves out”, he says to Fujin and Raijin. “I’m leaving.” Raijin hesitantly stands to let Seifer move past him; his mouth half open. “S-Seifer, we’re coming too, ya know!” Fujin raises a hand to her face, understanding Raijin’s feelings but understanding Seifer’s too. Seifer stops and raises a hand to Raijin’s chest in the universal ‘stop’ sign. “I want to be alone.” He turns and starts to walk away. “You kids have fun.”

“Seifer, stop that!” says the man as he struggles with two large suitcases. “Cry-ba-by, Cry-ba-by!” The blonde boy continues to tug at the younger boy’s hair. “Waah…waah! M-m-Matwyn!!!” the younger boy wails, tears running down his cheeks as he weakly tries to force Seifer’s hands away. It’s pouring with rain on this grey, November morning. The boys continue to struggle and make noise as they shelter on the stone porch, underneath the pillar supported roof, but even Zell’s cries are muffled by the rain that is dancing off the building, the foliage and the car. Cid, dressed in an over-sized raincoat darts back from the car to fetch more luggage from the porch and lets out an exasperated sigh at the boys, shaking his head. (He never does listen to me…)“Boys, please…” Seifer turns his head, still not letting go and sticks out his tongue. “I’m not a boy!”, he says stubbornly. Cid raises a hand to his face, sighing once more. “Oh no? Well what are you then, Seifer? A girl?” Zell forgets his problem for a moment and giggles. Seifer frowns, letting it sink in and then punches Zell in the arm, who starts to cry again. “Waaaah…Matwyn!” Cid opens his mouth to speak, but stops as a hand reaches down and softly touches Seifer’s shoulder. Zell immediately stops crying and scurries to hug onto the woman’s leg. Seifer turns and looks up timidly at the slender figure of Matron, dressed in black. He stands there, head lowered to the ground as Edea quickly comforts Zell, who has already recovered anyway, just at the sight of her. After ushering him back inside the stone house, she steps back to Seifer. He doesn’t hear her approaching over the sound of the torrential rain, but sees her elegant, black shoed feet and the bottom of her black dress appear in front of his lowered gaze. He looks up timidly as she squats down in front of him; reaching out to his grey duffel coat and starting to fasten up the toggles. “Seifer, you really shouldn’t pick on Zell like that. You won’t win any friends that way, you know?” she says, softly. “I-I don’t want to be his friend! I don’t need friends…not when I have Matron…” Seifer pouts. “But dear, you’re going away, you know that.” He lowers his eyes again, which are red and are starting to fill with tears. “You want to be a man, don’t you?” At that he looks up into her face and nods determinedly. “Then you should go and become one, my dear. You can’t stay here for ever.” He sniffs. “B-but why aren’t you coming too?” Edea lets out a calm sigh as she adjusts Seifer’s red scarf. “You’ll understand one day… It’s like I told you last night; you have to leave me here so you will be safe.” The teary eyed Seifer scrunches up his nose in an attempt to stop the tears and clenches his small fists. “B-but I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to be a boy anymore, Matron. I’ll protect you…I-I…I’ll be your knight…l-like in the stories…” he says, before bursting into tears and Edea smiles sadly and pulls him gently into a hug. “I know, my dear… But you have to go and become a man before you can become a knight. Do you think you can do that…for me?”…

Cid, who has just helped Zell into the back of the fully laden car, shouts out through the crashing rain. “Edea, Edea! Do you know where Squall is?” After a pause, she replies, still holding Seifer. “He…might be down on the beach.” Cid places a hand on his hip and nods knowingly. “I’ll fetch him”, he says calmly as he walks around the building in the direction of the beach, where the grey waves are furiously crashing up on the nearby rocks and the lighthouse’s beam is shining through the fog; guiding the blind ships on their way…

(I can do it, Matron. I’ll become a man. I’ll protect you.)

[To be continued…]

“Fresh start my ass!” Seifer’s gloved right hand comes crashing down the table, making the few glasses shudder precariously and some people at nearby tables turn their heads. (Look all you want!) the irritated young man thinks as the people murmur their disapproval. He slumps back with his arms back resting across the top of the booth seat. Surveying the dimly lit room, across the tables and the reasonably busy bar, his gaze moves slowly right, to the bottom of the curving stairway to the stage. There, a woman is playing the piano, accompanied by an attractive brunette on the cello. His frown meets the eyes of a nearby waitress, who will probably spend the rest of the evening wondering what it was that she did to offend Seifer. Now being able to catch Seifer’s eye, Raijin speaks up. “Don’t pay any attention to those punks, Seifer. They didn’t have the right to say those things, ya know?” the burly man says, gesticulating with one hand. “AFFIRMATIVE”, the abrupt yet soft voice of Fujin says from the other side of Seifer. Seifer slouches some more as he becomes less angry and more fed up with the evening, his astute brow low above his narrowed aqua eyes and the corners of his mouth down-turned in a well-drawn grimace. “Heh…you’re right”, he says with a confident upward movement of his chin; trying to be the ‘old Seifer’ that his loyal companions know – for their benefit alone. “Those wusses don’t know anything about me.” (They just can’t understand…), he thinks as he brings one gloved hand down onto his thigh and stares passively at the drink in front of him; his eyes softening as he drifts into thought.

Water laps calmly at the wooden legs of the jetty; a pleasant sound which is joined by the cries of distant seagulls and the light ‘clink-clink’ of the rigging on nearby sailing boats. As the airborne Balamb Garden gets smaller in the distance and disappears into a haze of white cloud, the content Seifer follows a couple of seagulls with his eyes across the intense blue sky and down across the bay. He takes a breath of the cool, fresh sea air as he stands with his hands on his hips looking over to where the road rises up past the Balamb Hotel. A splash and a splutter from down to his left draw him back to full consciousness. He looks to where Raijin is flailing ungracefully in the water in a poor attempt to climb back onto the jetty. Seifer’s lingering smile grows again and a flash of white teeth can be seen as his lips part in a chuckle. He turns – his crisp grey trench coat flowing behind him - and steps over to where Fujin is standing looking down on her handiwork. “Give the fool a hand for Hyne’s sake!” Seifer says with a theatrical waft of his right arm; still smiling. He turns and reaching down, grabs his abandoned fishing rod off the wooden boardwalk. Resting it on his shoulder, he walks back the short distance towards the land; passing Raijin who’s uncomfortably climbing up, with one arm grabbing hold of a broad wooden upright and Fujin tugging at the other. 


[To be continued…]