(no subject)

[givenonemoretry.livejournal.com]

Who: Squall and Tivon
What: Talking
Where: Balamb Garden
When: A few hours after Tivon met Balthier
Rating: PG


The tall pirate wore a pair of tight white pants with black detailing down the sides, a long coat that matched and buttoned down the left side of his chest and a pair of lace-up boots. His blonde hair was tied back neatly and he was carrying a few files Fran had asked him to take to the head office of this strange place called Balamb Garden. Stepping off the Strahl, he brushed his hair away from the eye without the tattoo.

Squall was sat outside with Loire, letting Rinoa get some rest. And to give himself a break from the massaes of files and data e and Fran had been trawling through lately. He rocked the infant in his carry cot, his eyes falling on the mysterious, yet handsome man exiting the Strahl. He blinked and shifted to stand.

Tivon glanced over the file names, honestly not understanding what any of it meant but assuming it had something to do with this cure that Fran was looking for.

Squall picked up Lorie's carrycot and began to walk over to the stranger. "Can I help you?" He asked, recognising the files instantly. Cold eyes fixed on Tivon's.

"Hm? Actually, you may be able to. I seek a man named Squall. I've files from a woman named Fran." He replied, looking down at the small brunette with the baby.

"I am Squall." The brunette replied, keeping his gaze firmly locked on Tivon. "You know Fran and Balthier? I imagine you must, Fran wouldn't trust those files with just anyone."

Tivon gave a slight smile, holding the files out to him. "Then, these are for you." He gave a slight chuckle to Squall's question. "I know Fran. I met Balthier but a few hours ago."

Squall took hold of the files. "Is Fran okay? I was expecting her to come by today to work on something. She's not sick or anything?" He asked, rocking Loire gently.

"She is well..." He glanced away slightly. "If you are in need of aid, I will offer my hand if you need it. She is... occupied."

Squall flushed a little at Tivon's words. "Oh... I see." He smiled soft. "Sure, the more hands we have working on this thing the sooner we'll find what we seek!"

Tivon gave a nod, smiling lightly. "I will need the backstory on what we are working on..." He smiled then paused. "Oh! How rude of me. I am Tivon." He offered his hand to Squall.

Squall rested the files under his arm and shook the man's hand, before starting to walk back inside Garden, giving him the background information on the illness and the cure they were working on.

Tivon was silent the whole was in, listening to Squall speak as he did, his hands behind his back and a serious expression on his face.

Squall led Tivon to the room at the back of the Infirmary they had been using to research in. "Well this is the nerve center of our operation." He smiled, setting Loire's carrycot down on the floor.

"I see." He looked around the room before his icy eyes settled on Squall. "Tell me, how is it you have come to be part of this? Are you hired by Fran?"

"No. I am a family friend of Fran and Balthier's. I aid them out of love. They are special to me." Squall replied.

"Ah, then we are one and the same." He untied his hair from the knot it was in and used an elastic from around his wrist to pull it back tighter.

"We have to find a cure. If Balthier dies... It'll crush Fran. She's trying so hard to stay strong, yet when we are alone in here, she breaks down." He moved to a chair, keeping Loire in his sight as he flipped a file open.

Tivon shifted to sit across from Squall, tucking loose strands of hair behind his ear as he flipped a file open, too. "So, your reasons for doing this are for Fran's sake? She has never seemed the type to have a lover on the side..."

Squall's eyes went wide. "Gods no... Fran and I... we're not... We're just friends... She has strayed a few times, but I think she's rather die than cheat on Balthier. He's her entire world."

The pirate chuckled soft, resting his chin on his hand, watching Squall with a gaze that could almost pierce the soul. "I am not easily fooled, I can see love in your eyes. You've a love for the young pirate then?"

Squall shifted under that intense gaze. "I love him in a way. Yes." He murmured, trying to focus on the papers.

Tivon smiled, brushing his hair from his eyes and setting his gaze on the paperwork for a brief second before looking at Squall again. "Well? Where are we to move from here?"

"I don't know." Squall murmured, running a hand through his hair. "I'm fast running out of ideas and time is running out."

Tivon sighed slightly, flicking through some paperwork, icy eyes scanning each word. "Mm... Fran speaks of a place far off in the sea. 'A researcher's paradise', or some such thing..."

Squall pulled out some maps, opening them out on the table. He swallowed hard, drawing a big circle around an area. "... The clues point here... Deep Sea Research Center."

"Deep Sea Research Center? Is this a problem or would it be simple enough to get to this place?" He tilted his head a little.

"It is easy enough to find. But it's a deadly place. An abandoned Research facility swarming with vicious fiends... It is no walk in the park..."

"Are not the things worth finding, always the hardest to find?" He tilted his head a little, looking at Squall.

"It would seem that is the way of the world. Yes." quall shifted in his seat. "It seems I'll have to discuss this further with Fran..."

"That sounds wise." He closed the file, pushing it away just a little. "My apologies is this seems rude, but you look far to young to be a commander... and a father."

Squall gave a soft laugh. "I'm nineteen. I have been commander since I was seventeen, and a father for just a short while."

"Mm, and you still look far too young. Not that I've much room to talk. I look far younger than I truly am." He chuckled.

"Oh?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow oh so slightly. "And how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

Tivon smiled, shaking his head slightly. "You will not believe me." He crossed his arms on the table. "I am seventy nine years old."

"No way!" Squall laughed, voice full of disbelief. "No way in the whole of Gaia are you seventy nine. It's impossible. Look at you!!"

Tivon gave a laugh, resting his chin on his hand. "And why, pray tell, can I not be the age I say I am?" He tilted his head slightly.

"Well because don't have a single wrinkle. You are far too good looking to be that age... And it just doesn't make any sense."

"Well, how about if I told you I died when I was twenty seven?" He tilted his head back the other way, watching Squall with amusement.

Squall blinked. "Died? Then... How are you here?" He asked, watching the man. "You cannot be a ghost because I touched you."

"That you did. I am unsure of the workings of it all but I was reborn thanks mostly to the Occuria in Giruvegan." He explained.

"Giruvegan? That is the place Balthier's father lost his sanity. How did you find your way from there to here?" Squall asked, not knowing the whole story from Fran yet.

"...Fran sought the Occuria for words upon a cure. I found my way at her side as she once did at mine." He replied, frowning a little.

"You and Fran... were you lovers?" Squall asked simply, closing the files and setting them aside.

Tivon gave a slight laugh. "We had not the chance. I died a month after we met, I was dreadfully ill, and she and I never truly reached that point."

"If you had lived... do you think you would've been?" Squall asked, watching Tivon.

"If I had lived, I believe we would have had some sort of bond, but I am... was ten years her senior. It would have been difficult." He murmured.

Squall looked at his hands before lookin back to Tivon. "Have you come back for her?" He asked, not breaking eye contact with the man.

"No." He stated plainly. Tivon brushed his hair away from his left eye, revealing the pretty black pattern around it. "I am not going to break her heart more than that boy has."

"Balthier loves her. It would crush him to lose her." Squall stated simply.

"Well, then we shall both have to keep out of things, hm?" He glanced down at the table, his blue eyes shimmering red as he did before he looked back up, eyes as pale as ice.

Squall gave a nod. "I know my place very well. I do not need telling." He shifted to stand. "I believe our work here is done. Send the pirates my regards."

Tivon stood and bowed his head once before leaving the room, heading back for the Strahl.