Zoisite

I do theater based out of the game Final Fantasy XIV, and our production of A Starlight Story, based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, tonight!! Please look forward to it. For more information about who we are, and what we do, find us at: http://thefirebirdtheater.carrd.co/ https://www.twitch.tv/thefirebirdtheatre https://www.youtube.com/@TheFirebirdTheatre

“The Importance of Being Earnest”! We invite you to come see us perform this classic idiot’s plot! If you play Final Fantasy 14, feel free to come see us in person at Aether - Faerie - Empyrium - Ward 6 - Plot 60! Or join us on Twitch, where we’ll be streaming the whole thing! Stream starts at 6:45 pm EST!

The question seemed to snap him out of his stormy thoughts, and Kunzite looked as though he was trying to work out the Gordian knot with one hand tied behind his back.

“Your predecessor used to tell me, ‘The animal beneath you is not a pet, it is a tool, and if used correctly, a dangerous weapon,’ and I don’t think he was completely wrong,” he said with a resolute nod, even as he leaned down to give his horse’s neck a fond pat.

“I believe every horse has a personality as varied as their riders, and the wisest calvaryman is the one who treats their steed like any other partner. You work together, as one, to bring out the best in one another.

If you’re going to be running into battle, you want to be alongside someone you can trust.”

Somehow Kunzite wasn’t sure he was still talking about horses.

“…And keep your heels down. It helps your feet stay in the stirrups and your back straight. Good posture is the best defense against a sore ass when you’re spending the entire day in the saddle.”

Work with the horse, not against it... and heels down. These were already two things he did not know. So many people riding, he saw, seemed to command the horse that they rode. Perhaps it was a reflection of the riders as opposed to the “overly willful animals” he had heard horses be described as.

The heels, at least, would be an easier fix.

“Next time I saddle, I will need to be more careful about the stirrups, then,” Zoisite said, feeling the bar slip away from his boot as he tried to correct posture. “As they are, they are a bit short. This is the only way I can reach them.”

Which, he realized, was probably part of why he had so many issues with dismounting earlier.

“I’d say you’re almost as bad as Jadeite when he wants something, but you don’t want anything, do you,” he asked softly with his eyes straight ahead, looking as though he was furious, and he was- at himself.

Upset for letting the one thing he had been running from for years happen, letting a stupid, selfish infatuation with a stranger distract him. The fact that the stranger had become someone his destiny was now permanently intertwined with was all the more damning, but Kunzite could only sigh, running a gloved hand through his hair.

“Somehow I think you might end up being the most dangerous of all of us.”

Zoisite could barely hear the words Kunzite spoke, the words were so soft. In a way, it seemed invasive to be listening; these were private thoughts spoken aloud.

“Oh, I have plenty that I want. Everyone does. I do not trust someone who says they have no wants.” And he did. He wanted success. He wanted security. He wanted status and importance and, deep down, revenge. He wanted to look down on everyone who told him that he was worth less than the dirt beneath their shoes. “The difference between Jadeite and I is that I’m simply not loud about it.”

But he chose not to comment on that last statement. Why? What made Kunzite feel that way? Had he not been told that he was not feared? That he was still green and inexperienced and raw? Unused to power. Unused to authority. What made him dangerous?

What, he wondered, was dangerous about him?