#the posse
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…)
