Desperate Desperado:
The Story of Laguna Loire
Part I:
Timber and the Deling City Hotel
"Uhh, Laguna, are you sure this is the right way?" asked the tall, skinny man in the Galbadian uniform with two long braids down his back.
The leader of the squad, a slightly shorter man with shoulder blade-length black hair, continued running forward on the path through the forest, basically ignoring his companion's question.
In the back of the squad, the tallest and largest man followed silently, his hair hidden beneath the blue bandanna he wore on his head.
To the right of the path, parts of the forest were on fire even as the squad leader took them dangerously close to the fires. Luckily, they had been able to avoid detection by and combat with Timber's army, which was supposedly huge enough to directly invade Esthar and win.
Suddenly, an odd, bell-shaped monster leapt out in front of them. It was a Funguar, one of the many weak monsters that inhabited the huge forests around Timber.
Green orbs circled around it which marked the summoning of magic as it attacked with a burst of Fire against Laguna. He swatted the fire off of his uniform and then brought his machine gun back up to the ready.
Before they could react, the Funguar shot off another Fire attack at the large man, who used his hand and his anchor to beat back the fire.
The skinny man ran forward with his punching blades in hand, bringing up first the blade in his left hand as he spun and then slashed upward with the right-hand blade.
In retaliation, the Funguar turned toward the skinny man and launched off another magic attack. A large orange star appeared by the man's left foot and circled around his body as it traveled upward. As it reached the top of his head, it scattered into several smaller stars which fell to the ground and dissipated as the attack successfully put him to sleep.
Laguna brought his left hand around and up to his forehead, then pulled a concentrated high-explosive grenade from his belt, pulled the pin out with his teeth, and threw it out toward the Funguar. It bounced twice as Laguna leapt into the air, grabbing a cable in his left hand as his momentum started him swinging, aiming his machine gun down as he opened fire on the Funguar. High-density bullets shot out of the barrel as the used cartridges shot out the side of his gun and small explosions from the bullets covered the battlefield, most of them hitting the Funguar. As his machine gun's magazine emptied, he dropped back to the ground with his back to the Funguar, then stood up and turned just as the grenade exploded, blasting the monster apart.
Then, as the group continued running, the big man in the back, Ward, said, "Hoo-boy, not again..."
Just about that time, they reached a Draw Point and Laguna instructed Ward to stock Cure magic. Ward received one Cure from the Draw Point, then they moved past it and continued on.
The path eventually turned to run parallel to a small stream with a fallen log as the only bridge over it. Laguna led them to the log and then crossed it.
After crossing the stream, the path widened out a bit and appeared to be a bit well-traveled.
"Hey, aren't we here to fight a war?" Ward asked. "You know, against the almighty Timber army?"
The skinny man, Kiros, tapped a finger against his chin as he pondered his companion's words. "Yeah, so why are we wasting our time messin' with these animals?"
Laguna turned around and scratched absently at the back of his head. "Well, you see... It's just that, uhh..."
"Don't tell me we're lost again," Kiros said flatly, crossing his arms.
Laguna turned around again. "Anyway... We're goin' home. Deling City, here we come!"
With that, he ran up the path toward their army vehicle. Kiros followed behind him as Ward said, "W-Wait! Laguna!"
He quickly ran to catch up with the others.
Up ahead on the path, the Galbadian army vehicle effectively blocked the path, yet its rear doors were open, a welcome sight to the soldiers. They quickly piled into it and Kiros closed the doors as Laguna jumped into the driver's seat and turned the wheel hard to the right, driving the vehicle down the path.
---
In Deling City, Laguna swerved the vehicle toward a fountain in the middle of the lane, stopping about five feet from it, clearly intending to leave it in the middle of traffic.
"H-Hey!" Ward exclaimed. "You can't park in the middle of the street!"
Laguna looked back over his shoulder, waving his hand dismissively. "Chill man, it's cool."
The three of them piled out of the car, taking in the slightly-polluted air of Galbadia's capital city as Laguna looked around. "Alright then!" he said. "How's about a drink?"
Kiros sighed and rolled his eyes. "We're not just here for the booze, are we? We've got a war to fight."
Ward chuckled. "So we'll get smashed, and then we'll CHAAARGE!"
Laguna turned toward the two of them. "Kiros, Ward, you two seem to misunderstand. I just want to have a friendly drink with you two."
As they started to run off toward the Galbadia Hotel, one of the trolley- buses came screeching to a halt behind their vehicle, as well as a civilian car, blocked by the army vehicle.
Only two people were around on the street the Galbadia Hotel was on, and they were both soldiers. The far end of the road was blocked by yet another army vehicle, most likely the same one that had passed them at the station.
"Hey, Laguna, you back to see her again?" the soldier across the street from the hotel shouted.
Laguna ignored him as he walked to the front doors of the hotel.
"Got the hots for the pianist in the hotel bar?" the soldier by the doors asked.
Laguna grumbled and walked inside, Kiros and Ward behind him. Once inside, he went immediately toward the stairs on the right of the lobby, heading down the stairs toward the bar down below.
"Welcome!" said the barmaid. "Your usual table is ready."
"Thanks," Laguna said, nodding, as he walked over to the table, preceded by Kiros and Ward. "At ease, men."
At that, the three of them sat down. Laguna looked to his right, then stood up again and turned toward them. "We're goin' all out tonight, right boys!?" Then he sat down again.
The barmaid walked up to their table and asked, "May I take your order?"
Laguna looked over at her, resting his hands on his knees. "The usual!"
"Me, too," Kiros said without looking up, arms crossed.
"Keep 'em coming!" Ward said, chuckling.
Unknown to the three soldiers at the table, a petite woman wearing a curve- hugging red dress was making her way down the stairs and toward the piano.
"So, Laguna..." Ward said, having noticed the woman. "Julia should be making her appearance soon. You goin' for it tonight?"
Kiros seemed to close in even more on himself, if that were possible. "Yeah, go for it."
Laguna had seen her, too. He slouched on the seat and shook his head, sighing a bit. "What-ever, man! Can't you see she's working?"
Kiros frowned as he looked at Laguna. "Don't go back on your word. C'mon, go wave to her."
Laguna looked down at the ground. "Give me a break..." he said depressively.
Ward looked over at him. "So you say, but we know you'll do it."
Grumbling, Laguna stood up and walked toward the stage that the woman, Julia, sat playing the piano on. Laguna walked to the edge of the first step, then stopped. He stood there as she played, smiling in appreciation of her beautiful song as he tilted his head slightly to the side. As she stopped, he looked down, then turned and took a few steps away.
He then nodded to himself, turned back, and walked up onto the stage. IAhh, to be this close to Julia.../I he thought to himself. I...Uh- oh.../I he thought as she turned her head slightly to look at him. IMy leg's cramping up...!/I
He jerked back suddenly, grabbing his right leg in his hands and almost bending over as the pain shot through his body. He stood up again, then began to limp rather pathetically back to his table. But he turned back around halfway there and limped back up onto the stage, waved at Julia, then limped back to his table.
"Good work, Laguna," Kiros said as he reached the table.
"Mission successful!" Ward exclaimed happily.
"Here, have a seat," Kiros offered, sliding over a bit to make room.
Muttering, Laguna sat back down, his posture looking even more depressed than before.
"I didn't think you'd actually do it," Ward said, trying to make Laguna feel better. "Our popularity rating's gone up a point."
Kiros, not really the sympathetic type, said, "Yeah, but you cut a pretty pathetic figure up there. I'd say you're about a -3 on the manliness scale."
"Say what you want!" Laguna burst out, his voice betraying his sadness and his anger. He sighed dreamily, then said, "Julia sure is pretty..."
Kiros looked up suddenly, something having caught his attention from the corner of his eye. "Aaa..."
Ward looked up as well, having seen the same thing. "Hunhh...?"
"Laguna, we're takin' off," Kiros said quickly.
Laguna jumped to his feet as Kiros and Ward stood up. "H-Hey! What's the rush?"
Ward looked back as he and Kiros began walking away. "It's on us tonight. Relax and stay awhile, Laguna."
He then quickly departed.
As Laguna stood there wondering what had made his friends run off so fast, Julia stepped up silently behind him. "May I?" she asked with her soft voice, which seemed so beautiful to Laguna.
He whirled around, startled. "Aaaaa..." Quickly, he turned and limped to the other side of the table, leaving her plenty of room.
She stepped in behind the table, then tilted her head to the side and smiled, bringing her left hand up to her face with her right arm beneath her elbow. "Did I interrupt anything?"
"N-N-N-Not at all," Laguna answered quickly, his stuttering painfully apparent. He brought his hands behind his back at parade rest, trying to regain some composure. He didn't do a very good job. "P-Please, s-sit down."
He did so himself, instantly lost in thought. IOh man, oh man, it's really HER! What do I do!? Kiros? Ward? HELP! What do I say!? But man, she is pretty.../I
Julia giggled and then sat down, looking over at Laguna. "You ok now?"
Laguna nodded, looking up. "Kind of..."
"How's your leg?"
He sat up slightly, confused. "L-Leg? Oh, this!? Y-Yeah, it's fine. Happens all the time when I get nervous." He coughed in emphasis.
"Were you nervous?" she asked, looking down at her hands in her lap.
He looked up and rolled his eyes, chuckling. "Oh yeah. I'm still kinda..."
Her head tilted up a bit. "You can relax. You don't have to get nervous around me."
"Oh, sorry," he said, looking back down again.
She looked over at him. "Say..." Her voice dropped to a whisper before she continued. "Would you like to talk somewhere private? I have a room here..."
Laguna instantly shot to his feet. "I-In your room!?"
Julia blushed as she looked out at the other patrons of the bar; Kiros, Ward, two Galbadian soldiers, and the barmaid. "Well..." She started to whisper again. "It's pretty hard to talk freely here. Everyone's listening in." As she said, everyone in the bar was standing within earshot of the table. "If you'd like to, please come by. I've been wanting to talk to you... You don't want to?"
Laguna swept his right hand out to the side as he said, "Of course I do!"
Julia stood up and smiled at him, then said, "Then I'll go ahead and wait for you. Ask for my room at the front desk, ok?"
Then she turned and left.
IAm I dreaming?/I he thought to himself. INo, this can't be a dream! Julia...? Wants to talk to me...? And just the two of us! Get it together Laguna... I always screw up by talking about myself too much. It's always been like that. But not tonight! I'm all ears for Julia!/I He nodded. IAhh, time to use my manly charm and help Julia with her problem./I
He immediately moved toward the stairs, not even pausing to talk to Kiros and Ward on his way.
Back in the lobby, he turned to the receptionist, who said, "Welcome! Checking in?"
"Whi-Whi-Which..." he began.
"...Aah, Mr. Laguna Loire? I've been expecting you. Let me show you to Ms. Julia's room."
---
A knock sounded on the door. Her breath catching, Julia looked in the mirror once more to check her hair before opening the door and smiling at Laguna before motioning with her hand to enter.
"Thanks for coming," she said.
Laguna lifted his right arm, palm up, in a shrug. "No... Not at all, uh... Thank you for inviting me."
She smiled and tilted her head to the side, then said, "Have a seat."
Nodding, he walked over to the bed and sat down. Then it seemed as though he had been hit physically and he jumped back up, walking quickly to the other side of the room as Julia watched, giggling silently, as he sat down in a chair. Then he decided that was a bad idea as well and stood up, walking back toward the door.
"Going so soon?" Julia asked, suppressing a giggle by putting her hand to her lips. "We haven't even talked yet."
Laguna took several steps back and then turned toward her. "No, it's not that. It's just that I'm a big fan of yours, so I'm really kinda nervous, y'know?"
She clasped her hands together at her waist, then smiled. "So that's why you come to hear me play so often."
Again, Laguna seemed as though he had been physically shoved backwards. "You... You saw me?" He ran to the other side of the room and began pacing back and forth, acting as though he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Julia nodded. "You were always smiling while listening, right?" She walked to the desk and tilted her head to the side and smiled, bringing her left hand up to her face with her right arm beneath her elbow as he stopped pacing. "You have beautiful eyes. Though they look a bit scared now." She lowered her arms and turned to look at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pluck 'em and eat 'em," she said, effectively ruining the romantic mood that had been present before. "I just want to talk, gazing into those eyes. Would you like a drink? Wine perhaps?"
"I must be dreamin'..." Laguna said, mostly to himself.
---
Only a few minutes later, Laguna was already going off with the mouth. "Yeah, I don't like fightin' too much," he said, "but you get to travel, y'know? Seeing new places n' stuff. And it's fun, 'cause Kiros and Ward are always with me. Hey, we should all go out drinkin' sometime! Whaddya say? And, uh... What was I talkin' about? Oh yeah, so I want to quit the army and become a journalist! So I can tell people 'bout all the things I've seen on my travels. So, like, the other day, one of my articles made the reader's column. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, that was way cool..."
"I'm happy for you," Julia said with a nod as she sat on the edge of the bed, actually interested in what Laguna was saying, if not the slightly less than coherent way in which he said it.
"Yikes... I'm talkin' too much again," he said, picking up on her subtle message. He took a step closer to her. "Tell me about yourself. Like...your dreams for the future."
She stood up and crossed to the other side of the room as Laguna walked to the nearest wall.
"I...I want to sing," she said hesitantly. "Not just play the piano, but sing, too."
Laguna lifted up his arms as though he'd just heard the best news of his life. "Oh, I'd really love to hear it!"
"But I can't... I'm no good at writing lyrics."
Laguna walked to the other side of the desk and crossed his arms, pondering on that thought. "Hmm... That must be tough."
Julia turned around and looked at Laguna's back. "But thanks to you, I think I can come up with something."
He turned around to look at her, bringing his right hand up to his chest. "Thanks to me...?"
"Yes," she said, nodding. "The many faces you've shown me. Times when you were hurt, worried... Or felt pain deep inside you... Your smile, your face, your eyes..." She began to walk toward him. "You've shown me something..." she said as she stopped in front of him. "I think I can come up with a song."
"Wow..." Laguna said. "I must be dreamin'..."
Julia took his right hand and lifted it up, then pulled off his glove and gently kissed the back of his hand. "It's not a dream, is it?"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Laguna!" Kiros said from outside. "New orders! Meet by the Presidential Residence, on the double!"
They heard his footsteps leading the other way.
Julia looked up at Laguna, her eyes shining. "Can we meet again?"
Laguna looked down at her, smiling his best smile. "Of course! I have to come hear you sing!"
The Story of Laguna Loire
Part I:
Timber and the Deling City Hotel
"Uhh, Laguna, are you sure this is the right way?" asked the tall, skinny man in the Galbadian uniform with two long braids down his back.
The leader of the squad, a slightly shorter man with shoulder blade-length black hair, continued running forward on the path through the forest, basically ignoring his companion's question.
In the back of the squad, the tallest and largest man followed silently, his hair hidden beneath the blue bandanna he wore on his head.
To the right of the path, parts of the forest were on fire even as the squad leader took them dangerously close to the fires. Luckily, they had been able to avoid detection by and combat with Timber's army, which was supposedly huge enough to directly invade Esthar and win.
Suddenly, an odd, bell-shaped monster leapt out in front of them. It was a Funguar, one of the many weak monsters that inhabited the huge forests around Timber.
Green orbs circled around it which marked the summoning of magic as it attacked with a burst of Fire against Laguna. He swatted the fire off of his uniform and then brought his machine gun back up to the ready.
Before they could react, the Funguar shot off another Fire attack at the large man, who used his hand and his anchor to beat back the fire.
The skinny man ran forward with his punching blades in hand, bringing up first the blade in his left hand as he spun and then slashed upward with the right-hand blade.
In retaliation, the Funguar turned toward the skinny man and launched off another magic attack. A large orange star appeared by the man's left foot and circled around his body as it traveled upward. As it reached the top of his head, it scattered into several smaller stars which fell to the ground and dissipated as the attack successfully put him to sleep.
Laguna brought his left hand around and up to his forehead, then pulled a concentrated high-explosive grenade from his belt, pulled the pin out with his teeth, and threw it out toward the Funguar. It bounced twice as Laguna leapt into the air, grabbing a cable in his left hand as his momentum started him swinging, aiming his machine gun down as he opened fire on the Funguar. High-density bullets shot out of the barrel as the used cartridges shot out the side of his gun and small explosions from the bullets covered the battlefield, most of them hitting the Funguar. As his machine gun's magazine emptied, he dropped back to the ground with his back to the Funguar, then stood up and turned just as the grenade exploded, blasting the monster apart.
Then, as the group continued running, the big man in the back, Ward, said, "Hoo-boy, not again..."
Just about that time, they reached a Draw Point and Laguna instructed Ward to stock Cure magic. Ward received one Cure from the Draw Point, then they moved past it and continued on.
The path eventually turned to run parallel to a small stream with a fallen log as the only bridge over it. Laguna led them to the log and then crossed it.
After crossing the stream, the path widened out a bit and appeared to be a bit well-traveled.
"Hey, aren't we here to fight a war?" Ward asked. "You know, against the almighty Timber army?"
The skinny man, Kiros, tapped a finger against his chin as he pondered his companion's words. "Yeah, so why are we wasting our time messin' with these animals?"
Laguna turned around and scratched absently at the back of his head. "Well, you see... It's just that, uhh..."
"Don't tell me we're lost again," Kiros said flatly, crossing his arms.
Laguna turned around again. "Anyway... We're goin' home. Deling City, here we come!"
With that, he ran up the path toward their army vehicle. Kiros followed behind him as Ward said, "W-Wait! Laguna!"
He quickly ran to catch up with the others.
Up ahead on the path, the Galbadian army vehicle effectively blocked the path, yet its rear doors were open, a welcome sight to the soldiers. They quickly piled into it and Kiros closed the doors as Laguna jumped into the driver's seat and turned the wheel hard to the right, driving the vehicle down the path.
---
In Deling City, Laguna swerved the vehicle toward a fountain in the middle of the lane, stopping about five feet from it, clearly intending to leave it in the middle of traffic.
"H-Hey!" Ward exclaimed. "You can't park in the middle of the street!"
Laguna looked back over his shoulder, waving his hand dismissively. "Chill man, it's cool."
The three of them piled out of the car, taking in the slightly-polluted air of Galbadia's capital city as Laguna looked around. "Alright then!" he said. "How's about a drink?"
Kiros sighed and rolled his eyes. "We're not just here for the booze, are we? We've got a war to fight."
Ward chuckled. "So we'll get smashed, and then we'll CHAAARGE!"
Laguna turned toward the two of them. "Kiros, Ward, you two seem to misunderstand. I just want to have a friendly drink with you two."
As they started to run off toward the Galbadia Hotel, one of the trolley- buses came screeching to a halt behind their vehicle, as well as a civilian car, blocked by the army vehicle.
Only two people were around on the street the Galbadia Hotel was on, and they were both soldiers. The far end of the road was blocked by yet another army vehicle, most likely the same one that had passed them at the station.
"Hey, Laguna, you back to see her again?" the soldier across the street from the hotel shouted.
Laguna ignored him as he walked to the front doors of the hotel.
"Got the hots for the pianist in the hotel bar?" the soldier by the doors asked.
Laguna grumbled and walked inside, Kiros and Ward behind him. Once inside, he went immediately toward the stairs on the right of the lobby, heading down the stairs toward the bar down below.
"Welcome!" said the barmaid. "Your usual table is ready."
"Thanks," Laguna said, nodding, as he walked over to the table, preceded by Kiros and Ward. "At ease, men."
At that, the three of them sat down. Laguna looked to his right, then stood up again and turned toward them. "We're goin' all out tonight, right boys!?" Then he sat down again.
The barmaid walked up to their table and asked, "May I take your order?"
Laguna looked over at her, resting his hands on his knees. "The usual!"
"Me, too," Kiros said without looking up, arms crossed.
"Keep 'em coming!" Ward said, chuckling.
Unknown to the three soldiers at the table, a petite woman wearing a curve- hugging red dress was making her way down the stairs and toward the piano.
"So, Laguna..." Ward said, having noticed the woman. "Julia should be making her appearance soon. You goin' for it tonight?"
Kiros seemed to close in even more on himself, if that were possible. "Yeah, go for it."
Laguna had seen her, too. He slouched on the seat and shook his head, sighing a bit. "What-ever, man! Can't you see she's working?"
Kiros frowned as he looked at Laguna. "Don't go back on your word. C'mon, go wave to her."
Laguna looked down at the ground. "Give me a break..." he said depressively.
Ward looked over at him. "So you say, but we know you'll do it."
Grumbling, Laguna stood up and walked toward the stage that the woman, Julia, sat playing the piano on. Laguna walked to the edge of the first step, then stopped. He stood there as she played, smiling in appreciation of her beautiful song as he tilted his head slightly to the side. As she stopped, he looked down, then turned and took a few steps away.
He then nodded to himself, turned back, and walked up onto the stage. IAhh, to be this close to Julia.../I he thought to himself. I...Uh- oh.../I he thought as she turned her head slightly to look at him. IMy leg's cramping up...!/I
He jerked back suddenly, grabbing his right leg in his hands and almost bending over as the pain shot through his body. He stood up again, then began to limp rather pathetically back to his table. But he turned back around halfway there and limped back up onto the stage, waved at Julia, then limped back to his table.
"Good work, Laguna," Kiros said as he reached the table.
"Mission successful!" Ward exclaimed happily.
"Here, have a seat," Kiros offered, sliding over a bit to make room.
Muttering, Laguna sat back down, his posture looking even more depressed than before.
"I didn't think you'd actually do it," Ward said, trying to make Laguna feel better. "Our popularity rating's gone up a point."
Kiros, not really the sympathetic type, said, "Yeah, but you cut a pretty pathetic figure up there. I'd say you're about a -3 on the manliness scale."
"Say what you want!" Laguna burst out, his voice betraying his sadness and his anger. He sighed dreamily, then said, "Julia sure is pretty..."
Kiros looked up suddenly, something having caught his attention from the corner of his eye. "Aaa..."
Ward looked up as well, having seen the same thing. "Hunhh...?"
"Laguna, we're takin' off," Kiros said quickly.
Laguna jumped to his feet as Kiros and Ward stood up. "H-Hey! What's the rush?"
Ward looked back as he and Kiros began walking away. "It's on us tonight. Relax and stay awhile, Laguna."
He then quickly departed.
As Laguna stood there wondering what had made his friends run off so fast, Julia stepped up silently behind him. "May I?" she asked with her soft voice, which seemed so beautiful to Laguna.
He whirled around, startled. "Aaaaa..." Quickly, he turned and limped to the other side of the table, leaving her plenty of room.
She stepped in behind the table, then tilted her head to the side and smiled, bringing her left hand up to her face with her right arm beneath her elbow. "Did I interrupt anything?"
"N-N-N-Not at all," Laguna answered quickly, his stuttering painfully apparent. He brought his hands behind his back at parade rest, trying to regain some composure. He didn't do a very good job. "P-Please, s-sit down."
He did so himself, instantly lost in thought. IOh man, oh man, it's really HER! What do I do!? Kiros? Ward? HELP! What do I say!? But man, she is pretty.../I
Julia giggled and then sat down, looking over at Laguna. "You ok now?"
Laguna nodded, looking up. "Kind of..."
"How's your leg?"
He sat up slightly, confused. "L-Leg? Oh, this!? Y-Yeah, it's fine. Happens all the time when I get nervous." He coughed in emphasis.
"Were you nervous?" she asked, looking down at her hands in her lap.
He looked up and rolled his eyes, chuckling. "Oh yeah. I'm still kinda..."
Her head tilted up a bit. "You can relax. You don't have to get nervous around me."
"Oh, sorry," he said, looking back down again.
She looked over at him. "Say..." Her voice dropped to a whisper before she continued. "Would you like to talk somewhere private? I have a room here..."
Laguna instantly shot to his feet. "I-In your room!?"
Julia blushed as she looked out at the other patrons of the bar; Kiros, Ward, two Galbadian soldiers, and the barmaid. "Well..." She started to whisper again. "It's pretty hard to talk freely here. Everyone's listening in." As she said, everyone in the bar was standing within earshot of the table. "If you'd like to, please come by. I've been wanting to talk to you... You don't want to?"
Laguna swept his right hand out to the side as he said, "Of course I do!"
Julia stood up and smiled at him, then said, "Then I'll go ahead and wait for you. Ask for my room at the front desk, ok?"
Then she turned and left.
IAm I dreaming?/I he thought to himself. INo, this can't be a dream! Julia...? Wants to talk to me...? And just the two of us! Get it together Laguna... I always screw up by talking about myself too much. It's always been like that. But not tonight! I'm all ears for Julia!/I He nodded. IAhh, time to use my manly charm and help Julia with her problem./I
He immediately moved toward the stairs, not even pausing to talk to Kiros and Ward on his way.
Back in the lobby, he turned to the receptionist, who said, "Welcome! Checking in?"
"Whi-Whi-Which..." he began.
"...Aah, Mr. Laguna Loire? I've been expecting you. Let me show you to Ms. Julia's room."
---
A knock sounded on the door. Her breath catching, Julia looked in the mirror once more to check her hair before opening the door and smiling at Laguna before motioning with her hand to enter.
"Thanks for coming," she said.
Laguna lifted his right arm, palm up, in a shrug. "No... Not at all, uh... Thank you for inviting me."
She smiled and tilted her head to the side, then said, "Have a seat."
Nodding, he walked over to the bed and sat down. Then it seemed as though he had been hit physically and he jumped back up, walking quickly to the other side of the room as Julia watched, giggling silently, as he sat down in a chair. Then he decided that was a bad idea as well and stood up, walking back toward the door.
"Going so soon?" Julia asked, suppressing a giggle by putting her hand to her lips. "We haven't even talked yet."
Laguna took several steps back and then turned toward her. "No, it's not that. It's just that I'm a big fan of yours, so I'm really kinda nervous, y'know?"
She clasped her hands together at her waist, then smiled. "So that's why you come to hear me play so often."
Again, Laguna seemed as though he had been physically shoved backwards. "You... You saw me?" He ran to the other side of the room and began pacing back and forth, acting as though he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Julia nodded. "You were always smiling while listening, right?" She walked to the desk and tilted her head to the side and smiled, bringing her left hand up to her face with her right arm beneath her elbow as he stopped pacing. "You have beautiful eyes. Though they look a bit scared now." She lowered her arms and turned to look at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pluck 'em and eat 'em," she said, effectively ruining the romantic mood that had been present before. "I just want to talk, gazing into those eyes. Would you like a drink? Wine perhaps?"
"I must be dreamin'..." Laguna said, mostly to himself.
---
Only a few minutes later, Laguna was already going off with the mouth. "Yeah, I don't like fightin' too much," he said, "but you get to travel, y'know? Seeing new places n' stuff. And it's fun, 'cause Kiros and Ward are always with me. Hey, we should all go out drinkin' sometime! Whaddya say? And, uh... What was I talkin' about? Oh yeah, so I want to quit the army and become a journalist! So I can tell people 'bout all the things I've seen on my travels. So, like, the other day, one of my articles made the reader's column. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, that was way cool..."
"I'm happy for you," Julia said with a nod as she sat on the edge of the bed, actually interested in what Laguna was saying, if not the slightly less than coherent way in which he said it.
"Yikes... I'm talkin' too much again," he said, picking up on her subtle message. He took a step closer to her. "Tell me about yourself. Like...your dreams for the future."
She stood up and crossed to the other side of the room as Laguna walked to the nearest wall.
"I...I want to sing," she said hesitantly. "Not just play the piano, but sing, too."
Laguna lifted up his arms as though he'd just heard the best news of his life. "Oh, I'd really love to hear it!"
"But I can't... I'm no good at writing lyrics."
Laguna walked to the other side of the desk and crossed his arms, pondering on that thought. "Hmm... That must be tough."
Julia turned around and looked at Laguna's back. "But thanks to you, I think I can come up with something."
He turned around to look at her, bringing his right hand up to his chest. "Thanks to me...?"
"Yes," she said, nodding. "The many faces you've shown me. Times when you were hurt, worried... Or felt pain deep inside you... Your smile, your face, your eyes..." She began to walk toward him. "You've shown me something..." she said as she stopped in front of him. "I think I can come up with a song."
"Wow..." Laguna said. "I must be dreamin'..."
Julia took his right hand and lifted it up, then pulled off his glove and gently kissed the back of his hand. "It's not a dream, is it?"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Laguna!" Kiros said from outside. "New orders! Meet by the Presidential Residence, on the double!"
They heard his footsteps leading the other way.
Julia looked up at Laguna, her eyes shining. "Can we meet again?"
Laguna looked down at her, smiling his best smile. "Of course! I have to come hear you sing!"
