Chapter Text
"Everyone ready?" N'adana jogged down the line, checking briefly with each of the band members as they prepared to take the field. She patted shoulders and high-fived everyone she could in their organized formation of teal uniforms, offering encouraging words until eventually she landed at the back of the crowd where the drumline was gathered.
"Get in line, you goons!" N'adana shuffled the gaggle of bass drums into place, who were far enough back that they hadn't expected to be chastised for chatting outside of formation. The underclassmen grumbled, despite complying, as N'adana turned towards their fearless (and apparently, lax) leader - quad player Alisaie Leveilleur. "How are you feeling? Good, I hope?"
Alisaie shuffled, adjusting the harness underneath her uniform that strapped the heavy instrument to her torso. "Nervous," she bit at the strap hanging loosely around her chin, white hair slicked up and tucked into the top of her hat. This was there first public performance of the season - albeit only a football game and not a competition - but N'adana knew the mantle of student leader was weighing on Alisaie. Between that and the promotion from snare drums to quads, she had a lot on her plate.
"You've been doing great so far, why is tonight gonna be any different?" N'adana smiled, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "Don't think about the crowd - just focus on me."
N'adana gave one final wave towards Alisaie (after staring daggers into the bass drums) before bounding over towards the pit percussion at the front of the stadium. "You all ready?" She called towards Alphinaud as she approached, his hands working on some final plugs attached to the cart that held his keyboard setup.
His head popped up from the back, nodding quickly and getting into position to push his things onto the sidelines. He gave one final glance at the rest of the kids in the pit - bells, xylophone, marimba players, and that one kid who was pushing a cat of special-effects instruments - before giving N'adana a thumbs up. "Ready when you are!"
N’adana finished the jog to give her friend a fist-bump before checking the clock on the scoreboard. “We should be good, then. Let Mr. Augurelt know I’m marching them on.” She relayed before turning back around, jogging over to her place at the head of the main formation. Her eyes scanned the faces of her marching band for a moment – traded a nod and a thank you with the color guard captain, Arya, as she handed off her baton – before clearing her throat and barking the command to attention.
Rows of bodies snapped into perfect alignment with each other, and at the sight N’adana turned around to face the field, shouting another command that signaled the drums to start playing the cadence that Mr. Augurelt had written for them himself. The man made sure everything was perfectly in order, which N’adana appreciated because it made her position as student leader a hell of a lot easier. She spotted him on the sidelines of the field next to the podium, unsurprisingly formal for a football game in a button-up and long, black overcoat. He signaled to the announcer’s box out of the corner of her eye, and a moment later she heard Thancred’s voice over the loudspeakers introducing their show.
N’adana hit the fifty yard mark and turned towards the crowd, marching halfway to the sideline and twirled her baton around in ways that she could scarcely believe she could manage. Thancred had taught her a few tricks after she had been chosen as drum major, and they came up with a salute for her at the beginning of the summer season. She had practiced it tirelessly, keeping her gaze on Alphinaud as he offered her silent encouragement. One final spin and she tossed it in the air, the metal baton sailing higher before dropping back down. N’adana managed to catch it with both hands, albeit the ideal being one, before sticking it in the ground and saluting towards the crowd.
“… And with that, I’d like to introduce you to the Pride of Mor Dhona - the Scions Marching Band! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!”
N’adana put her arms down at the end of the first movement. Nice, good job , she thought to herself as she gave the pit and guard a moment to transition their things. Once she saw everyone was ready, she lifted her hands up again in position to start the second movement. Gentle , she mouthed to everyone, a reminder to them of the thing they seemed to struggle with the most as a group: musicality. Their show was a three-act story about a vague, abstract war. Movement one had been about the battle – fast-paced music, pseudo-fighting with instruments (which had been incredibly stressful the first few practices), and the color guard ever eager to fight each other with swords. Thancred had insisted they ordered large, red flags that were to be tossed over the band like sheets of blood. Mr. Augurelt was hesitant at first, but the first time they were used in practice he had to bite his tongue, because even he had to admit they looked damn cool.
The second movement represented the aftermath of battle. Members laid in the grass of the field while others mourned. The guard wrapped themselves in stark, white or black cloth as a representation of the restless spirits of soldiers. Alphinaud’s keyboard solo started the piece and came to a close, the rest of the ensemble rising from the ground to join him in a haunting chorus of dissonant chords.
N’adana kept the pace despite some kids referring to the piece as a ‘funeral procession,’ trying to keep them engaged through the dynamics to pull out an emotional performance. However, the cohesive chords began to pull apart as the percussion came back in. Her ears twitched as she tried to pull them back together, locking eyes with Alisaie and emphasizing the beats on the tips of her fingers. For a moment almost all seemed lost, with some members falling out of step in the confusion, but a few moments later they had managed to pull the beat together enough to finish the piece. They had been doing so good with that part in practice – what the hell happened there?
N’adana took a deep breath and prepped for the final movement, signaling for the rest of them to breathe as well before raising her hands. The crowd behind her couldn’t see her facial expressions, thank gods, though it was something she should pull together before their first competition next weekend.
The final movement was a celebration – soldiers returning to their families, a party for the ones who had lived. The abstract, nonexistent battle needed a proper story structure, Mr. Augurelt had explained.
N’adana dropped her hands after the final note, giving her band one final nod and smile before turning around to greet the applause they were given. Not bad for their first public performance, she was sure. She knows that they’ll get hung up over the one glaring mistake though – Alisaie especially – and she thought silently to herself about how to address it as she led them off the field.
“Gods, that sucked!” Alisaie groaned next to N’adana, bonking her forehead against the head of her drums as she groaned. The stands roared with noise around them, the crowd fully engrossed in football and not paying attention to them now that they were off the field.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Alisaie!” Alphinaud patted her on the shoulder, having traded in his keyboard for a small set of metal bells. They sat together in the stands, now looking like the proper twins that they were now that everyone had taken their hats off.
“He’s right, you know.” N’adana interjected, “You all did pretty good besides, and it is our first performance outside of practice.”
Alisaie pouted – typical. “It would have been better if I didn’t fuck up, though.”
Mr Augurelt turned to raise a brow at Alisaie, to which she apologized sheepishly. Leaders should not set a bad example for their younger peers, he had said after catching her and N’adana cursing up a storm in a nearby practice room. N’adana had more control after the conversation, but it was still hard for Alisaie sometimes, and she slipped up often.
The crowd behind them screamed wildly while they were arguing amongst themselves, to which N’adana hurriedly stepped back and counted them off for the song they played when their team scored a touchdown. Alisaie beat on the drums angrily in front of her, though to be fair, she was keeping herself on time quite well now. If spite is what fueled her, N’adana could work with that.
Halftime had come and gone, with the Ala Mhigan Gryphons own marching band performing on Scion soil. N’adana prepared the customary welcome basket for them as they marched off the field, making sure it was stocked with enough goodies for all their members – something they scraped together money for each home game they had. “You said there was sixty of them, right Mr. Augurelt?”
“Sixty-two, yes. I would appreciate it if you would check again for me, as I would like to be certain Mr. Waters did not swipe any treats for the other students while I was not looking.” He nodded, white hair pulled back in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck.
N’adana giggled as their color guard instructor objected in the background, counting and double checking that there was, indeed, sixty-two present for each member of their band. She also made sure to dump in a few extra from the pack they had bought, just to make sure. “Miss Lyse is here today, right?”
“She is – should be meeting you over there when we head over.” Thancred nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, “Why, want her to come back and replace me?”
“No! I’m happy she was able to move closer to home, but I still miss her.” N’adana rolled her eyes playfully at Thancred, standing up with the basket of treats in her hand before glancing towards the band to collect the rest of the student leaders. “Ali, Alphi, Aren, Arya, Ryne!”
The four of them put down their instruments and slammed down the metal bleachers to meet N’adana, eagerly chatting amongst each other, excited to walk away from the stands for a moment. It was one of the many perks of being leadership – bringing over treats for the other band, getting to socialize with new people who had the same interests as you.
The six of them walked around the field, having to push through halftime crowds to make their way to the opponent’s bleachers. By the time they had made it, the other band had almost finished packing their halftime sets back up – pit instruments, color guard flags, and the like – back into the trailer parked behind their stands. Arenvald and Alphinaud was the first to spot Miss Lyse, calling out to the blonde woman and running over to greet her eagerly. Alisaie and N’adana followed suit, with Ryne and Arya trailing behind.
“Miss Lyse!” Alisaie grinned, running over and hugging her.
“Hey, Alisaie! I saw you on quads today, I’m so proud of you!” Lyse returned the hug with a gentle pat on the shoulder. “And N’adana! Congrats on drum major, kid. Wasn’t surprised at all when Mr. Augurelt told me who got it.” Lyse had known them all since they were freshmen, having been their color guard captain up until last year, when she was offered the same position in her hometown of Ala Mhigo. “Here to see my kids, I’m assuming?”
N’adana nodded, holding up the basket of candy. “Yeah, could you go grab ‘em for us?”
Once the other set of students were gathered, they formed themselves into a circle behind the bleachers. They talked about what they liked about each others’ performances (Thancred will be pleased to know they liked the red flags, N’adana thought to herself), what their schools were like, and other random bits before they actually decided to introduce themselves. They went in order of the circle, with their guests going first, all of them decked out in purple uniforms that Ryne had politely complimented at the beginning of the conversation. When it was time for their turn, they went down the line:
“I’m N’adana! Drum Major, junior.”
“I’m Alphinaud-“
“And I’m Alisaie. We’re both percussion captains. Also juniors. And yes, I’m older.”
“You are not!-“
Alisaie shushed him, “It’s Arya’s turn, Alphi!”
Arya chuckled at the twins’ shenanigans. “Arya, color guard captain. Sophomore!” She waved.
Arenvald waved next, “Brass captain - Senior. I’m overrun by these little ones here, ya’ see.” he chuckled brightly.
“And I’m Ryne. Woodwind captain, freshman.”
The other kids oo’d and ah’d at the fact she was a freshman. “It’s because she’s really good. We’re really proud of her!” N’adana smiled towards the other redhead in the circle.
“Shoot, sorry!” Another boy pushed into the circle opposite of them – a tanned, hyur boy who had hit his growth spurt earlier than all his band mates, it seemed – the only ones in the circle that were taller than him were Alphinaud and Alisaie. “Was helping Miss Lyse put away the flags. I’m uh…” his eyes landed on Alisaie, “W-Wilred, color guard captain.” The boy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his buzzed head with a calloused hand. “Sophomore.”
“Nice to meet you, Wilred.” Alphinaud nodded politely, and the rest of them greeted him as well.
The circle of them chatted until halftime was about over, with the nervous latecomer not-so-subtly chatting up Alisaie in front of all of them. It was so obvious that on their way back, Ryne had giggled as she pointed it out. “Looks like Alisaie has a new boyfriend.”
Alisaie scoffed, “As if! I just hope he doesn’t decide to talk to me more in the third quarter. I can handle guys like that in a group setting, but I’ll die if I have to talk to him alone.”
“I’ll make sure to stick around,” N’adana chuckled, subconsciously chewing on one of her nails as they walked in a cluster, “not that I don’t do that all the time anyways.”
Arya raised a brow towards Alisaie, “What’s the big deal, anyways? He was cute!”
Alisaie blushed, muttering something under her breath before they turned the last corner of the field before meeting up with their own band again. “Thancred, we’re replacing you with Miss Lyse again!” The fiery twin called out towards their color guard instructor, who simply called out to them over the crowd in mock disbelief.
“Want a hot dog?” N’adana snapped Alisaie out of her daydreaming, alerting her to the fact that the line was longer than normal tonight.
“Nah, I’m feeling chili today. And coffee?”
“Coffee? Alisaie, it’s eight at night!” N’adana’s eyes widened.
“Fine, fine. Hot chocolate!”
N’adana had already left by the time Alisaie realized the miqo’te had promised not to leave her alone. Fuck, she thought to herself, too zoned out thinking about N’adana to have mentioned it before she ran off. The way she had braided her bangs back tonight was so cute, gods. She should have been talking to her damned crush, who was right in front of her, instead of fantasizing about her, damnit!
Alisaie groaned in resignation as she leaned against the side of the bathroom building, sipping out of a water bottle before her friend could bring her back something more substantial. Her stomach growled underneath her coveralls – the same ones she had last year, but when she tried them on again, her hips hugged them tighter. F’lhaminn had to make the pants longer as well, which only confirmed her suspicions that she had yet another growth spurt that past spring.
Alisaie was so lost in her thoughts again that she didn’t notice Wilred approach until he was directly in front of her. “-Alisaie, right?” He pointed a finger towards her, his lithe body covered in a sparkly red ensemble. She had remembered Lyse over the loudspeaker explaining their show – something about fire? So the getup made sense.
“Uh, yeah. Wilred?” She pointed back, albeit awkwardly. Why did I remember his name. Now he’s going to think I actually paid attention to him outside of how he paid attention to me.
“Yeah! Wilred,” he rubbed the back of his neck again. He kept his hair on the top of his head longer than the sides, his dark hair curling up around his forehead. He had just preformed, so some of them still stuck to his forehead with sweat. “So, you’re quads, Miss Hext mentioned. That’s really cool!”
I didn’t mention that in the circle, did I? Did he ask Miss Lyse about me? “Mhm. Just promoted up this year, actually.” She explained nonchalantly, trying not to seem like a total bitch to this kid.
“Yeah, me too! Not quads, though – color guard, obviously.” Wilred laughed awkwardly. He was handsome enough, Alisaie guessed, but he just…
Wasn’t N’adana.
Alisaie practically winced at her own pathetic thoughts, listening to Wilred ramble on about something. “So, anyways. I uh, I saw you earlier and just wanted to tell you that I think you’re really-“
N’adana suddenly appeared out of nowhere before the poor sap could finish his sentence, pecking Alisaie on the cheek and somehow handing her the bowl of chili she asked for, despite balancing both their meals in her arms. “Chili for my girlfriend, extra Sriracha, like always!”
Alisaie’s mind went blank for what felt like an hour, trying to compute the feeling of N’adana’s soft lips against her cheek, breath warm against her chilled skin in the Mor Dhona fall. “I- uh. Thanks.” She squeaked, miraculously understanding that N’adana was trying to save her ass before she could make a further fool of herself. “It’s sweet of you for remembering.” She blushed. She did truly like her chili to be extra spicy.
Wilred deflated, watching N’adana sling her arm around Alisaie’s shoulder while the two ate their concession stand dinners together in comfortable intimacy. “Well, I’ll see you around, Alisaie. Your band is coming to the Limsa Lominsa competition next week, right?”
“We are!” N’adana answered happily, “We wish you all the best of luck - show’s looking great already!”
Wilred half-smiled at the miqo’te, “Yours as well.” he waved before slinking away with his hands tucked into his uniform.
“You alright?” N’adana asked, keeping her arm around Alisaie’s shoulder until the boy was out of view.
“Yeah, it was just awkward.” Alisaie huffed, her brain still reeling from the physical touch she was being given. Her face was red, but if N’adana asked she could just brush it off as embarrassment from being hit on. “Actually thank you for remembering, though.” Alisaie hummed, taking the cup of hot chocolate tucked expertly in the crook of N’adana’s arm and taking a sip. “Eugh, are they making it with water again this year?”
“Shit, they are? Fucking lame.” N’adana scrunched her nose up in the way that made Alisaie’s heart flutter. “I can go get you another water if it’s not great.
Alisaie shook her head, “You don’t have to keep up the girlfriend act, he’s way across the field by now.” she chuckled.
N’adana rolled her eyes, “It was an actual offer, silly, but alright. Drink your piss chocolate.” She started to eat her own dinner - a hot dog smothered in ketchup and mustard, to the point where Alisaie wondered whether she could even taste hot dog underneath it all. “We’ll have to keep it up the entire season though, if we keep running into them.” she chuckled, “At least almost every week for competitions - we see them in our division for most of the fall.”
Alisaie groaned, “You mean I’ll have to put up with you for basically the entire first half of the school year?” She hoped she could hide how much she was excited for the prospect of ‘pretending’ to date N’adana - keeping close, sharing blankets in the stands, holding hands while walking passed their band - it all made her stomach turn into knots in the best way.
“You do that anyways, so is it really any different?” the miqo’te chuckled.
Was it really any different? They spent practically all of their time together, especially now, as this year they practically had all the same classes together. Would it really be so bad to fake date her - to pretend once a week to have everything that she had wanted for over a year now?
Alisaie hummed to herself as she drank her ‘piss chocolate,’ grimacing at the taste but determined to drink it all. No, it wouldn’t be bad at all, she thought to herself, In fact, I’ll make sure to enjoy it as much as I can before things have to go back to normal.