Thunk.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Larxene prepared to embed the poster upon the wall with yet another dagger, when the phone rang. Glaring at her cell phone with a sigh, the blonde woman ceased throwing knives to reach over and pluck up the ringing device, pressing Call.
"Larxene Foudre." If this wasn't important, then by god she'd sic them with a dagger for interrupting her... Who did she know that had the guts to call her at midnight, anyway?
"Whoa, Sparky, what's got you in a mood?" You. Your call. Men in general. Especially Marluxia. But Larxene voiced none of those things.
"What do you want, Axel?" Her best friend had the amazing talent to tick her off while bringing a smile to her face –– but she was much too irritated right now to even attempt to smile for him. She could almost see the mocking affrontment in his voice.
"Tsk, tsk, Larx, so rude! We'll have to work on that. You busy?" A smirk crept onto her face as she one-handedly hugged her knees up to her chest.
"Depends; why?"
"If you're not, d'you want to go to your ex-sweetie's Valentine's Day party? I've got pranks set up, and Cupid's not gonna know what hit him."
It was a tempting offer, alright. Larxene tilted her head as she considered it. Pranking Marluxia would be a great way to let off steam and chill out, but she really didn't care about him anymore anyway...
"Maybe," she decided to answer. "I'll think about it."
"Tomorrow night, yo. Get it memorized."
"Mhmm. Yeah, 'bye." She cut the line, tossed the cell phone out of sight, and picked up another knife.
Throwing daggers into the paper-Marluxia's head, chest, and groin was much more important right now.
Ŀŏνέ
Naminé groaned into her pillow.
It was five o'clock in the morning, and her odd, purple cat, Cheshire, had just woken her up.
"TGIF..." she mumbled, before rolling over in her bed. She misjudged the distance, crashed onto the floor, and instantly woke up (though she still felt disoriented).
"I spoke too soon." Rubbing her forehead and clearing her vision, the blonde youth stretched before standing up and following her fat feline into the kitchen.
"Why on earth do you want to eat breakfast this early?" she asked, more to herself than to the cat. After all, talented though he was (at vanishing, stealing, and acting like a kitten to persuade her), he couldn't speak Japanese. Naminé sighed, took out a can of cat food, popped the lid open, and set the can down on the floor, pushing it with a slippered foot over at Cheshire.
"Eat up," she said, and went to wash her hands. If her cat was eating now, then she might as well eat her own breakfast, too, one of toast, butter, fruit, and oatmeal.
Ŀŏνέ
Kairi awoke at precisely nine past six a.m., and immediately jumped out of bed, excited for the upcoming Valentine's Day. Marluxia Amaryllis was throwing a party tomorrow night, and had sent out invitations to nearly everyone in their extensive group of acquaintances and friends. It would be Kairi's first time at attending a party thrown by someone rich and famous, and to her mind, it was bound to be great fun.
Slipping into a tank top and skinny jeans (disregarding her t-shirt and shorts), Kairi nearly skipped into the joint living room she shared with the apartment's other tenant, Naminé White. The other girl was sitting quietly on the couch, drawing something on her sketchpad, and sharing none of the enthusiasm the other exhibited.
"Good morning!" she said, hoping to cheer Naminé up. The blonde looked up for but a moment, nodding, before resuming her sketches, smiling at the paper.
"Good morning, Kairi," she said in her soft voice. She didn't question her cheerfulness –– she merely accepted it as a part of who Kairi was.
"Guess what?" Naminé humoured her with a small smile.
"You won the lottery."
"Nope!"
"You did your homework?" That one brought a laugh from the reddish-brunet.
"Nope, guess again!"
"You know, you really should ––"
"Guess." Naminé sighed. What else was there?
"You... got asked out by Sora...?"
"BINGO!" cried out her friend, clutching her pink cell phone to her chest. "We're going to Marluxia's Valentine's Day party tomorrow night! Isn't that great?" The blonde managed another weak smile.
"Absolutely." She really had no interest in Marluxia, nor his parties, and had planned on not going; and who would she go with, more importantly? Sora was with Kairi, Reku (Riku's younger twin; he loathed his nickname "Repliku", and thus it was shortened to just "Reku") was with Xion, and Riku was only an acquaintance.
A slightly "like-liked" acquaintance.
Kairi's next question drew Naminé out of her thoughts.
"So, are you going?" The question was only for show: Kairi would get her friend to the party, be it by honest or questionably-honest means. She frowned as Naminé shook her head.
"No... Someone has to stay home and watch Cheshire." What kind of an answer was THAT?
"Nami, you've left Cheshire alone for two days once, and he was fine, remember? C'mon. Is it because you don't have a fancy dress? I could lend you one!" She hadn't meant to be a little insensitive towards Naminé's financial situation, but she knew the blonde would forgive her. She always did.
Then a lightbulb went off in her head. Naminé, being reserved and shy, would not go to a party, only to be a wallflower; she had little confidence sometimes and underestimated how many boys liked her, and would probably not go unless...
"If Riku asks, will you go?"
Naminé blushed furiously at the sly comment, and looked down at her hands. "Maybe..." she said in a tiny voice. Kairi punched the air triumphantly.
"Aha! So, all we have to do is get Riku to ask you out! Easy-peasy!" Kairi somersaulted into the kitchen, ignoring Naminé's protests, and laughing all the way.
Today was already a wonderful day.
Ŀŏνέ
Yuffie sighed as she stared out across the sea of heads in the fast-food restaurant where she worked. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day, and she still had yet to see her boyfriend. It wasn't his fault, of course, that he was very busy with work, and often sent on long missions; but it would have been nice to see him, still. She hadn't for over a month.
"Hi! And welcome to McDuck's! May I take your order?" The cheerfulness never left her voice when at work, and never sounded forced; Yuffie like to pride herself on that to cheer herself up. It did, after all, take a lot of effort and work.
As the customer ordered their speed-cooked breakfast, the ebony-haired teenager found herself thinking about her boyfriend again. She missed him dearly.
Maybe it was too much to hope he'd be back by tomorrow night.
Ŀŏνέ
Aerith hummed to herself as she picked flowers to sell. With tomorrow being lovers' day (or something like that), flowers were in huge demand, and it was great for business.
It was also very fun to fill basket after basket with beautiful blossoms grown with care, and always brought a smile to her face when she tied each bouquet with a silk, curly ribbon.
As she filled the wheelbarrow with the countless flowers to be sold, she thought of Zack. It was kind of him to fix her wheelbarrow for her, and it worked very well. Aerith smiled.
She'd save his favourite flower just for him; wouldn't he be surprised to find one wrapped with his box of chocolates?
Ŀŏνέ
Tifa knew Cloud would be gone today, just like every other day, but missed him just as much. If she did see him, either today or tomorrow, then that would be the perfect chance for her to give him his Valentine's Day present... but it was unlikely. The blond ex-SOLDIER had a habit of disappearing without a trace, and to attempt to find him was both fun and folly, and mostly the latter, for he was near impossible to find.
She sighed, and looked down sadly at her box of Chocobo chocolates.
Maybe Aerith would know.
Ŀŏνέ
Xion was furious at her boyfriend, Reku. He'd completely forgotten that tomorrow was Valentine's day, and that they had made plans to go to Marluxia's party. She knew she was overreacting, and it was nothing really worth getting mad about, but she couldn't help her temper, and stalked off to her bedroom to calm down.
In hindsight, she felt a little bad for him. The silveret was busy with college and finding a job; Valentine's Day was probably the least of his worries.
The teen sighed and logged onto her laptop, turning on her WiFi and opening her Chatterblox account.
BlackenedMemories is now online.
Xion scrolled down her news feed disinterestedly, until she came across SparksandLightningXII'slatest thread.
x-x-x
Hey guys I'm having an anti-valentine's day party at my house. It's down the block from marly's, and a good damn deal closer to your houses than his. You don't need to dress up in something fancy. No invite needed, just show up.
x-x-x
Xion winced at Larxene's writing style, but considered the idea. Perhaps she could go to Larxene's party first, then show up at Marluxia's with Reku; it was, after all, only a block away.
It was a thought.
Ŀŏνέ
"Valentine's Day" was something Ariel had never heard of in Atlantica. They had something similar, Courtship Day, but the two holidays were similar only in idea. Pink hearts and winged babies assaulted her eyes as she walked into the Moogle shop. A chipper brunette was busy decorating the Moogles with pink frills and paper hearts, and her face lit up at the redheaded ex-mermaid's arrival.
"Hi, Ariel!" she exclaimed, nearly tackling her with a hug. Ariel caught the hug and returned it happily.
"Hello, Selphie," she said with a smile. "I need your help. You're good with dating advice, right?"
The brunette beamed.
"Of course!"
"Well, there's this guy..."
Ŀŏνέ
End of Part One
A/N: Who else recognized the little reference to Wine Trouble?
Chapter Two should be up within the week.