I'll Make a Man Out of You {Eight}

It's better to die on your feet

Than to live on your knees

She did not want to give this speech.

Seven sat down in the lounge, looking at the two students that had been trying to convince her to give some speech for the last hour of the day. They had tried the same thing a few weeks previous before Nine had interrupted and brushed past them. Seven had thought she had avoided that whole thing again because they hadn't said anything about it, but apparently they hadn't forgotten. Rubbing the back of her neck, she glanced up at the face of the girl and instantly dropped her violet gaze back down. "I don't know if I'll have the time...I have exams this week, a group presentation and a few papers to write.", she said slowly, hoping that might draw them away and make them realize she didn't want to give it. Unfortunately they wouldn't take the hint. "But Seeeeven! It wouldn't take hardly any time to write it! And you don't even have to say much! You'd only have to be up there like...ten minutes! That's hardly any time!"

Seven wished they would have taken the hint. The problem was that she hated to disappoint them, and with the mournful looks they were currently giving her, it was clear that they would be disappointed if she didn't agree. She did care for them, as she did for a lot of the underclassmen, but that didn't mean she wanted to give a ten minute speech. Who tried to get someone to give a speech by telling them it 'only had to be ten minutes long' anyway? As far as she was concerned, a ten minute speech was sure long enough."But...I'm sure there's someone else you would rather have speak, like...your teacher?", she said a little desperately, though she tried to keep her face free from her mild distress. "But Seeeeeeveeen! You've helped so many of us with our school and our skills in the training room! Moogle Dremson even said you would be perfect for this!"

Why had she ever agreed to tutor students anyway? It had started with one student, and their teacher asking Seven to help out because she did great at math, and unfortunately, it had just gotten bigger and bigger since then, to the point where she seemed to be regularly assigned students to take under her wing. She usually liked doing so, and felt good helping out, but she had never thought that they would do something like this and actually ask her to give a speech. Seven didn't like giving speeches...never had. That was more for people like Queen and Trey. "But...I don't like giving speeches. Surely there's someone else wh-""Please Seven?!", they begged, the girl even clasping at her arm and leaning forward. Once again raising her eyes, Seven sighed lightly and patted at the girls shoulder. "Oh...okay, I suppose I can.", she finally acquiesced. Instantly they both brightened and showered her with their thanks. "Oh thank you, thank you, thaaank you! You're the best! Just remember, classroom four, next Tuesday at 2!";

Seven sighed when they trotted off, before rubbing her eyes again. She really didn’t want to give a speech…but they had looked so hopeful, that she hated to let them down. Instead, she just sighed lightly and relaxed there at the lounge, until she overheard some talking. “That Eight? Yeah, Kayla said that she totally caught him spying on her!” “Oh…she just wants that to have happened, so she can say she got the attention of a Class Zero man.” “Well…he is the type! Him and those women.” “Oh…well I guess you’re right.” As they moved on, Seven stroked her chin. Maybe she needed to…talk to Eight about his habit with girls.

Yeah…maybe she should.

words 712 • tagged: Eight • outfit: School uniform • Notes: >D

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Tagged : SeVEN | Words : 673 | Notes : IT RETURNS.

"…well, yeah, because she’s a monk too and that automatically thinks that makes us…compatible or whatever she called it. You know what she told me she wanted to do? She told me she wanted to spar.” The member of Class Five that stood across from Eight did not look nearly as concerned as Eight did as the latter spoke. ”That doesn’t sound like a big deal…I’ve sparred with her before. She’s a little wild and frisky, but she never…you know, did Kayla things.” The expression on Eight’s face drooped. ”No, you’re missing the point…” ”And that is?” Looking all sorts of distressed, Eight ran a hand through his short hair and looked around to the rest of the hallway, where he and the fellow monk were standing outside of the lounge doorway, ignoring the occasional passerby who was headed in or out. ”The ‘sparring’ turned into ‘wrestling each other in swimsuits’ after I told her that I might do it.”

Eight was clearly not pleased when his friend busted out into laughter at the revelation, but all he really did was run his hand through his hair again and try to bore the thought of…what Kayla had recommended that he and she do out of his mind. ”It’s funny, you know. You’d agree to that with any other girl in the school!” Oh, now he was going for the low blow too! ”You’re full of it,” Eight “bit” back, quietly, as his arms linked across his chest and he shifted his lean against the wall. ”Anyway, you just keep thinking about that ‘sparring.’ I gotta get to class.” With a sarcastic wave and a ”Yeah, get outta here!”, Eight watched him leave for a few seconds as he again felt all sorts of gross just imagining Kayla…like…in…on…whatever. He just didn’t need to think about it. When Kayla had first come to the Academy, Eight had been thinking she was kind of cute by way of thinking, at first, that she was normal. Her looks hadn’t changed, but Etro, had her normalcy completely disappeared. There was nothing attractive at a girl who wanted to throw her everything at every male in her vicinity.

Bleeeh. Eight turned and opened the door to the lounge, hoping there could be something amazing inside that would keep any and all sets of pigtails out of his head in totality. Always thinking with his stomach, he made a quick beeline for the snack machine and stepped up to it, utilizing his usual technique for deciding about which snack he would buy – standing with his head against the glass, staring at all of the bags until one of them started speaking to him. Or something like that. Actually, Eight’s mind instead wandered to the task of speculating if it he would truly…do what Kayla had recommended with any girl in the school. He quickly decided no. But…several, maybe? Yeah, yeah. A few definitely popped into his mind immediately as the obvious ones. But, it would have to be their idea! Eight wasn’t going to go off and be the one that brought it up first, because that wasn’t exactly gentleman-like. Honestly, though, who in their right mind was going to recommend anything Kayla recommended doing with a guy? Unfortunately (for a very small percentage of those ideas), not a soul in the scho-

Eight felt someone tugging on his arm, turning to glance at the small girl who now revealed herself to be off his right shoulder. For a few seconds, he stared without realizing he was still blocking the snack machine without actually using it. Turning and patting the front of the machine, Eight nodded between it and the girl before starting to amble aimlessly away, partially in the direction of the lounge’s seats and partially nowhere, as he decided that she was not one of the several whom he wanted to recommend the same thing as Kayla. He glanced over his shoulder at her again. Yep, definitely not.

It's better to die on your feet

Than to live on your knees

Okay, so how exactly did one…have this sort of a chat with someone anyway? Seven sat and tried to think about how she would approach Eight with his girl habit. Almost instantly the thought of Arecia’s lectures and charts filled her mind. The same instant she physically shuddered. Those had been some of the worst times in their entire lives as a class, she was almost positive of that fact. Arecia was a great mom, and Seven adored her like the rest of her class did…but in that area, Seven fled and hid for the day. She would rather face Astley and all his creepy ways than face Arecia’s talks of sex and the like. In fact, she was fairly sure that the younger kids, like Deuce or Cinque, had been scarred for life because of that. So…that was almost immediately a no. She wasn’t going to be giving Eight any charts or the like when she talked to him, but…it was a pressing matter. If he didn’t watch it, he was going to have half the school angry and expecting more of a relationship.

Okay…so she wouldn’t be doing it Arecia’s way. So…what other way was there? Scratching at her head, Seven drew her legs beneath her on the sofa and tried hard to think about what the best way to go about this might be. Should she just flat out tell him? Seven had heard that Carla had requested a special meeting with him...could that have anything to do with this same situation? Part of her, a big part, figured that it couldn’t be. Though she didn’t know Carla extremely well, Seven really highly doubted the girl would want someone like Eight. Not that there was anything wrong with him, and Seven would admit that he was good looking…in a brotherly way to her, but…well, personality wise…

But that didn’t always matter of course, so Seven was going to have to get to the bottom of that too. She doubted that Eight would get into any serious trouble, but of course, he was a man, and men tended to be a bit…stupid, when it came to women. Not that women were much better when it came to men of course. Oh, well…anyway, the point was that Seven was just attempting to look out for Eight, and since he didn’t seem to care that these girls might track him down, shave him bald for stringing them along, and sell it on Rubrum’s list, it was up to her as an ‘older sister’.

Oh…speaking of which, there he was. Seven had turned in her seat to crack her back when she caught sight of him. “Hey Eight.”, she called lightly, waving him over. She still had absolutely no idea how she was going to break this to him and how she was going to actually talk to him about his behavior toward girls…but he was here, and she was thinking about it at the moment. She should at least just try to get it done right away…right? Right…yes…yes of course she should. Once again Arecia’s charts popped into her mind. Maybe that was the better way to go! Just send him to Arecia…she would be able to scare the living daylights out of Eight with all of her stories and examples and stuff…

Yeah…the more she thought about it, the better of idea it sounded like.

words 712 • tagged: Eight • outfit: School uniform • Notes: >D

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Tagged : SeVEN | Words : 600-ish | Notes : IT RETURNS.

Right, it was about time Eight made it to the lounge, draped himself over a chair, and got all this crap out of his mind. Finally leaving the snack machine for good (unfortunately without a snack), Eight trudged off in the direction of the seats, spotting a familiar head of head already hanging out there. Hey, Seven was fun to talk to...when he could get anything out of her. Maybe she'd take his mind off of what the guy had said...or she'd have him thinking about her in the same situation. With that thought, Eight rubbed at his head to get rid of that thought as soon as possible because no, he wasn't going to ruin a perfectly good chance to talk to Seven and be lazy for the rest of the day. As he rubbed the thought away, he heard Seven call his name, apparently wanting him to head over in her direction anyway. Straightening up so she wouldn't notice anything was out of the ordinary, Eight walked right on over and went to doing what he'd planned to do before - plopping onto a chair with elbows spread and his head lying on the back of it as if he'd just fought a year-long battle and needed to rest without moving forever. He guessed this might have looked odd to Seven, and so rolled his eyes down to try and look at her. "Hey, Seven. What's up?", he asked her, as casually as a guy could when he was completely motionless but looked uncomfortable.

Another idea did pop in his head about this whole situation. Seven could be pretty tough sometimes. Heck, a lot of students found her kind of scary sometimes because she had that whole...looming dramatically thing going on. Class Zero knew that she was just not a "talk to everyone for five days straight" kind of person like Trey or Jack, but some people in the school didn't get that it was just a part of her personality. Eight had to start wondering if Kayla knew, and that if Seven said something to her about stopping her weirdness with Eight (and with the entire rest of the class, as far as Eight could tell), whether or not Kayla would actually listen. ...Well, it was Kayla, and she probably wouldn't, but Eight could always let Seven know about these kinds of problems. She was like...that kind of good-looking older sister that you didn't want to think was good looking because she was like an older sister, only a lot cooler and she had a whip and stuff. "Uh, Seven?", he asked, finally letting his head roll fully forward to a normal position so he could look right at her. Instead, though, he looked off to the site sheepishly. "So I have a teeny tiny problem that I might need your help with..."

It sounded like time to do what Eight did best - beat around the edge of things he didn't want to directly talk about. "So let's just be...what's the word...theoretical here." He tented his fingers before his face like Trey usually did when he was getting ready to talk for three hours straight about the dangers of wearing heels on shoes or something. Etro, Eight hated that pose, so he dropped his hands back into his lap. "You know Class Five, right? The other monks? Well, ah...there's some people in that class that really like the idea of sparring, you see. And being monks, clothes aren't really that...important to the way we all fight. A few people in that class...one people...might say sparring without clothes on...with another monk from outside of the class...would be a great idea." Eight paused, looking very pleasant as if this conversation was completely normal or something. Seven probably wouldn't agree with him. "I thought you might want to beat her up or something, for...for...science." Yeah, Seven couldn't deny him after that explanation. Eight looked to her expectantly, hoping she was in a good enough mood to head off right now and act on his wish...or just, maybe, talk to Kayla. He'd be fine with that idea, too.

It's better to die on your feet

Than to live on your knees

Seven's keen eyes watched Eight trudge across the room and collapse on a chair like he'd just been in a fight to the death with a vicious behemoth. That didn't make any sense whatsoever. Her eyes flickered down to look at him and try to judge why he seemed so exhausted. Hair wasn't mussed at all...his clothes were about average for Eight, so that didn't clue her in on if he'd just been in a match with someone to train. He didn't appear to have any extra perspiration, so that too...left her to wonder. Perhaps he'd just asked some girl out and they had turned him down? Seven swore...if that was the case, she might have to have a longer talk than she was already planning with him. She didn't say anything about his seeming exhaustion, but one eyebrow lifted until it disappeared under her silvery bangs. "I just got asked...no...forced, to agree to giving a speech for the cadets in class four I've been tutoring." Seven couldn't quite hide how her face blanched at the thought. Almost instantly her fingers curled up into a fist and allowed her fingernails to bite into her palms.

Instead of thinking about it however, she pushed it out of her mind and turned her attention to Eight again. "And you? You look like..." Seven paused for a moment to find the right example. "Like you've spent the last four hours with Trey as he explains quantum physics." Served him right if he had. Before she could launch into her planned admonition however, he seemed to want her help. "Yes?" Again her eyebrow disappeared underneath her silver bangs. Seven felt almost relief. So Eight was finally ready to admit that he had a problem with girls and he wanted her to help him stop being such a flirt. Well this made her job so much easier, she could just sit back, listen to his confession, and then help him to stop. It would be as simple as that, then she wouldn't have to worry about angry jilted girls killing him in his sleep.

'Goodness, he must really be torn up about it.' Seven felt pleasantly surprised that he was taking this so hard. She didn't say anything though, simply allowed him to work himself up to the point of telling her. Expressing things like this took time, especially when you were asking for help about personality flaws. She could act like she had all the time in the world if it would help him get it off his chest. "Yeah?" Seven's content look dropped slightly as he launched into an overly confusing dialogue about the 'hypothetical' situation. Wait a minute...this wasn't a confession about his flirting problem? For Etro sake...and it didn't take long to figure out what he was talking about. For a moment she was left to blink. "You wrestled Kayla naked?" Seven tried desperately to hide the horrified feelings she was having, instead maintaining her calm. "How...did that happen?" Seven didn't really feel like she wanted to know, but it bought her time to wrap her mind around his request. It was true, Kayla was like a thorn in everyone's side...but this? This was just...too much. She groaned slightly.

She should have sent him to Arecia.

words 712 • tagged: Eight • outfit: School uniform • Notes: None!

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Tagged : SeVEN | Words : 600-ish | Notes : IT RETURNS.

"You? Speak in front of people?", Eight asked incredulously, mouth cocked sidewas in confusion. There wasn't any reason someone would want Seven to give a speech, even if she was tutoring them. They could get her to give a demonstration of all that whipping she did, sure. Maybe they could get her to draw pictures for them on the chalkboard and teach them that way. But Seven just wasn't a talking kind of person. Eight raised his eyebrows like an idea had hit him, since he could tell she wasn't the happiest in the world about having to say more than two words to more than one person at a time. "You could always pay Trey to do it," he pointed out, with a little shrug, completely serious when he said it. He paused for a second, though, deciding he really didn't have it right just yet. "Or maybe you don't have to pay him to talk since he loves that anyway, and then you can pay him to stop when everyone falls asleep in their chairs." One thing was for sure - if a group of people asked Seven to speak and got Trey instead, they'd never ask anyone to speak for them again.

But Eight couldn't focus on Seven's speech problem too long. When she asked what was up with him, he decided it was as good of a time as any to tell her why he looked like someone had run him over with a pack of chocobos. But as he kept on telling her - theoretically what his problem was, he wasn't exactly...getting the reaction he wanted. Nope, Seven just looked at him like he had some kind of really bad disease and would fall over dead at any time. Eight had wanted...passion! He'd wanted Seven to jump up in his defense, declare to...a small number of people...that she wasn't going to put up with this Kayla chick messing with her classmates anymore, and march out with her whip-in-hand like she owned the whole school. Instead, when he finished telling her the theoretical story, she said something that made him realize that she'd gotten it all wrong...so....so very wrong.

"No...not...no!", he told her, leaning forward to drop his face onto his open palms and stare at the floor. Well, crap, this kind of problem was all he got for being theoretical. He'd always known that theoretical stuff was crap when they'd tried to teach them all about it. Seven was getting way ahead of herself, though, and she'd done a lot on her own to make this whole conversation really, really awkward. Still with his face in his hands, Eight spoke. "She came up the other day and asked me to spar! And I said I might think about it, because I was trying to be a nice guy and...then somehow, in that crazy head, got the idea that I'd spar her if we were wearing swimsuits. And she skipped off all happy like she thought we were gonna do it...but she didn't...I didn't...nope." He finally shifted his head up slightly to look at Seven. "Why...would you think I'd want to spar Kayla nak- like that?", he asked, wondering if Seven thought he'd lost his mind sometime in the past like, two days or something. Every guy's fear of Kayla in Class Zero was pretty much known by everyone in the school...but maybe not to Seven.

It's better to die on your feet

Than to live on your knees

Seven nodded almost miserably when he repeated what she would have to do. Every time she thought about having to speak in front of people, she felt like she had to be sick all over. While time and practice had made it easier to do so, she still hated it. Hated it so much she couldn't sleep the night before, and would usually be up nervously pacing around her room when the night - or day - of came. It was no different. "Yeah...", she said to assure him that's what she had meant, her voice dragging like her feet were at this moment. But she perked up when he mentioned Trey's name. Why hadn't she thought of that before? It was almost brilliant. "What do you think the chances are he would wear a wig and get a boob job so he could give my speech?", she asked in a nearly serious attitude. Of course she wouldn't ever ask Trey to do a thing like that just for her.

Of course not...

But Eight had larger - quite literally - problems than she herself had. And she would much rather think of how to help him through his problem with flirting that think about either giving speeches or Trey with a boob job. The mental image had flickered through her mind and had scarred her brain tissue in the short amount of time, she would almost guarantee it. But the problem took a turn for the weirder when he started going off on this rant about a 'hypothetical' situation. When someone prefaced their story with hypothetical, that meant that it had happened to them - or they were thinking about doing it. She prided herself in being at least above average intelligence, but she wasn't really getting exactly what he was trying to say here. And judging his reaction, what she'd said wasn't what he was trying to imply. Her eyebrow quirked.

Finally though, he asked her why she would think he'd want to spar with Kayla. Wetting her lips, Seven wished once more that she could have sent him to Arecia to get straightened out. But she would have to be the one to do it. "Actually Eight...I'd been wanting to speak to you about something that I think relates to this subject." Her voice was a bit stiff, as was her entire body, but Seven valiantly pressed on. How did one breach a subject like this and actually not mess it up badly? For a moment she paused to contemplate exactly how she should bring it up. "I've been hearing things about you lately and I feel like I have to tell you about it."

With a deep breath, she looked up at the ceiling while she continued. Etro, why did this need to be so difficult? "I've heard that you can be...a...heartbreaker, when it comes to the girls around here." Clearing her throat, Seven tapped at her knee with her fingers and battled down the red that was creeping up the back of her neck. "Some of the girls get the idea that you're dating them - or interested in it - even if you aren't actually. That sort of behavior could have made Kayla think that you were interested in sparring...without clothes." Seven wished the ground could open and swallow her whole...honest to Etro, if she ever had to do this again, she might just crawl away and pretend to be dead instead of doing it. Sending people to Arecia was by far a better idea.

words 712 • tagged: Eight • outfit: School uniform • Notes: >D

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Tagged : Seven | Words : 729 | Notes : Ahh the moron.

Seven was really, really asking Eight if there was a chance that Trey might take an opportunity to talk for a long time to a lot of people. He gave her just a deadpan look, because it wasn't even a question. "It's Trey," he told her, like it wasn't obvious. "Just show him the place where he can stand and talk and make sure there are ears around and you could probably get him sex change surgery in the middle of the talk...and he'd be happy." Eight was kinda sure that pretty much anyone who didn't know Trey well would think he was just joking or kidding, but he pretty much felt and looked totally serious as he looked to Seven and let his arm dangle off the side of the chair. Trey was...well, Eight got along with the guy great, sure, but he was like some kind of alien from another planet without gender who didn't really...get things but knew a lot of stuff from reading all about it before he'd shown up on the planet to come in peace and all that stuff from the movies. Someone could get a giant mace thing like Cinque's and knock Trey on the side of the head with it hard enough to launch him through a window and he would keep talking if he had something to explain to someone. Eight hoped that Class Zeros in the future didn't get him as a teacher or something... The Peristylium would explode if they did.

For right now, Eight's brain was the only thing that was going to explode while he tried to figure out why Seven thought he would...wrestle Kayla...naked...and the image of having to do that and what he'd...end up....touc- Nope, Eight decided, he should just stop thinking altogether and flop over dead in the chair again to stare up at the ceiling, and he did those two things exactly, slumping down in the seat and letting his head flop over like he'd been knocked unconscious all of a sudden. He could have probably drooled some, too, as much as he'd shut off his mind. And he knew, while he was in that position, that Seven was saying something, but he waited just a few more seconds to start thinking again once he knew that the mental image from before was gone. Once he tuned back in a little, Eight heard her saying that she had heard things about him and that she wanted to talk about those things. Eight made a noise that sounded almost like gargling and choking for a few seconds as he lay with his head tilted so far back, but it was meant to be "Yeah?". Oh, yeah, he probably knew what she'd heard, that he was n- doing things that no one not crazy would ever do ever. She didn't have to tell him.

But what she was saying was something else totally. Eight, with half his face drooped and the other half raised along with his eyebrow, slowly tilted his head back down to look at her. Eight's brain...it had just started working again, so it couldn't process what it was that Seven was trying to say to him for several seconds. The only thing to do was to keep the same completely confused look right on her face. Eight didn't...know what she meant about him being a heartbreaker. No girls ever took him that seriously...which was what he thought his problem was. If they had taken him seriously before, he wouldn't have to chase them around. And everyone knew Kayla just wanted to..have...naked times with every male in the entire school who could...breathe and...move, which was all the guys in the school. So Eight had all kinds of problems putting everything Seven was trying to say together, and his eyes left her face just long enough for him to peer at the ceiling and let out another noise, this one mostly pained. "...Who's that into me?", he finally came out with, from out of the blue, when he looked back at her. Someone out there must have been seriously playing coy if he'd missed the whole dating thing...

But somehow, Eight felt he might have been missing the point of what Seven was saying.