So, basically, while we're waiting for
the techs from Fisherman's Horizon to finish up the work on Balam
Garden, Selphie decides she wants to have a concert in the Quad.
This is what Irvine was asking Squall about having them fix when they
were talking on the way back, and why they're going to go see her
there. Meanwhile, Cid has decided to promote Squall to mission
commander or something for the war against Sorceress Edea.
While Cid fills Squall in on that,
Selphie and the others get to work on the concert. The strategy
guide I bought with the game on one of the multiple times I bought
this game suggested two songs: an Irish jig and a slow dance. I went
with the slow dance because I was going to go with a title like the
one I did.
Just as a brief aside here, yes I did
say I purchased this game multiple times. That's because, for the
longest time, I kept getting it and losing it for various reasons.
Up until about 2005, it was because I had hoped it would actually be
a good game. Since then, it's been more for completion's sake.
That's kind of the same reason I have Origins and Chronicles or
whichever one has the re-releases of Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono
Trigger on it.
Anyway, when Cid tells Squall that he's
in charge of the Edea mission, he freaks the hell out, and in this
case, I really can't blame the guy. The thing about Squall is that
he's got some growing up to do, still, regardless of how long he may
or may not have left to live. I'm tempted to think that he wouldn't
be that bad a guy under different circumstances, but as is, he's
clearly not ready to even be in charge of himself, and everybody
insists upon putting him in charge of things that would be big for
anybody.
On top of getting a promotion that he's
nowhere near ready for, part of Selphie's little concert plan is to
hook Squall up with Rinoa. And I've got another reason to sympathize
with Squall for a change. Not only has the poor bastard been roped
into a party he doesn't want to go to, he's been sent there on a date
with a crush he hasn't been able to admit to anyone yet, not even
himself. I know these are all supposed to be teenagers and
everything, but none of them think, even for a second, that this
might be a bad idea?
Part of the reason I can relate to
Squall here is because high school for me was kind of like this whole
Garden thing seems for Squall. Sure, I had my classmates,
acquaintances, and perhaps even friends while I was there, and even a
few kinda-sorta crushes that never really got brought up until years
later. At least one of them even sort of knows who they are now.
The thing is, though, for me, the group of people I was part of kind
of knew I was the weird guy around the place. Not necessarily bad or
mean or creepy or anything, just not one of the ones who got invited
to parties and the like very often, and fortunately, I think, never
hooked up on dates. I can only speak for myself here, but I was
always OK with that. Still am, really.
Anyway, after about three hours of
rehearsals, the concert begins. It's being held in the dish section
of FH, which makes me wonder what the deal was with getting the Quad
fixed. Must have still been in progress. Selphie, Irvine, Zell, and
Quistis are the band while Rinoa tries to get Squall to open up to
them. Naturally, it doesn't go well, but that's as much because of
the plan and the people who made it as anything. Admittedly, it was
a shit plan, and Selphie and the others probably shouldn't have gone
through with it, but that still doesn't excuse Squall being an
asshole about it, either. There's even a point when he tries to
punch Rinoa for all of this, for which she shoves him off a ledge and
tells him he needs to be more open with them, which eventually makes
Squall tell her to go fuck herself before he goes sulking back off to
his quarters in Garden.
The next morning, Quistis, Xu, and
somebody named Nida call Squall up to the command deck to tell him
that they've been given the go-ahead to start piloting the Garden
around. Nida says he (or she, I'm not really sure which) says the FH
techs showed him how to work the controls so there'd be at least one
person there who knows how. It's a pain to figure out, but I think
I've got it. Nida also claims to have been in Squall's graduating
class, but Squall says he doesn't recognize them. I can understand
that. I probably wouldn't recognize half the people from my high
school home room after the almost twenty years its been since then,
either.
Our destination is the town of Balam,
but that's for next issue, so that's where I'll pick up next time.
See you then.
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