Color Bind
(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)
"It's orange," Selphie said with conviction, like it was a well known fact. Like you'd be quite mistaken to think otherwise.
"I always thought it was pink," Rinoa said, her eyes narrowed at Selphie in confusion while holding a large multipack of construction paper.
Selphie rocked back on her heels and looked upwards. When she'd started sorting construction paper piles with Rinoa, she didn't think she'd have such a hard time of it. Apparently they had different concepts of what constituted certain colors. Primary colors were fine, they were in agreement on those, but other colors were confusing them. Not everything was black and white, there were shades of gray, muted mushroom, and greenish khaki to be argued about.
"I totally see what you're saying, but it still seems more orange than pink to me. I mean, it's not orange-orange, but it's MORE orange than straight up bubblegum pink. When I look at Quistis, I don't think of cotton candy and unicorns."
"I didn't say bubblegum pink," Rinoa said, she didn't even want to mention the cotton candy or unicorn part. "It's just pinkish to me. There are lots of different types of pink." Her old bedroom was all types of pink. Rinoa was an expert on pink.
They stood around, both in thought.
"Maybe we should get another opinion. Let's ask Squall," Rinoa said, her face lit up at the excuse to see Squall. She dropped the pack of construction paper with a thud on the nearest table. She grabbed Selphie by the arm and started pulling her out of the arts and crafts room.
Selphie hopped along with Rinoa down the hallway, eager to include Squall in their fun argument. They weaved and breezed past SeeDs and cadets, and within minutes they burst through the door of the commander's office.
"Squall, I think Quistis' outfit is more orange, and Rinoa thinks it's more pink. What does it look like to you?" Selphie asked without wasting any time.
"My opinon doesn't matter," Squall said, trying to stay neutral while not reacting to the odd intrusion. He turned back towards the pile of papers on his desk. That phrase worked for a lot of questions people threw his way during the day.
"Oh come on Squall! Give us an answer!" Selphie demanded. She walked over to his desk and put her hands down on top of the paper he was reading so he'd look up at her. "And I know you hate paperwork, so don't pretend you don't love an excuse for a little break."
Squall dropped his shoulders. He was cornered. Best to get it over with.
"Squall doesn't like getting involved in any fights that can't be settled with a gunblade," Rinoa said with a smirk, amused by his resistance.
Squall looked at Selphie, she clearly wasn't going to let this slide. Her face was serious with her brows knit together in concentration as she awaited his answer. Then he looked over at Rinoa, her eyes sparkled darkly at him with a small coy smile playing at the corner of her lips.
Nothing can be gained from this, Squall thought, but something can be lost. Tactical decision, agree with girlfriend.
"Pink," he said simply.
Rinoa gave him a big smile and a pink flush of color rushed to her cheeks as if to agree with him. Having your man agree with all your opinions was a definite turn on. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and licked her lips. She mouthed a 'thank you' towards him while making direct eye contact.
Squall thought Rinoa was looking especially sexy and enthralling today.
Crisis averted, he thought while congratulating himself. Diplomacy isn't so hard.
"Okay, I see now that asking Squall was a mistake," Selphie said while punching one hand into another. She looked over at her two lovestruck friends who looked like they were thinking about getting hot and heavy with each other in the near future.
"Does anybody want to go to the training center with me?" Squall asked, wanting to make a quick getaway while Rinoa was still pleased with him. "I can go alone," he said before anybody had a chance to answer. He started to try and leave, but Rinoa slipped her arm through his and cuddled close to his side. He tried to leave again, but she held him fast and leaned her head on his shoulder. The scent of her freshly washed hair wafted up under his nose. He didn't try very hard after that. This was fine.
Zell and Irvine walked by Squall's door and came closer to see what everybody had congregated about.
"Is something going on?" Zell asked. "Are you thinking of picking teams for a new mission?" he asked Squall with excitement.
"We're just arguing about the color of Quisits' outfit," Selphie explained. Zell and Irvine looked at her with confusion. This didn't seem like an appropriate use of the commander's office or his time. Although Zell was mostly annoyed that they hadn't come to him first. He loved guessing games and pointless trivia. This was in the same vein.
"It looks like a peachy mango salmon color to me," Zell said. He'd thought about this before. Sometimes when the gang went out to stock magic, there wasn't a whole lot else to think about. Drawing took forever.
Selphie whirled around towards him. "You never stop thinking about food, do you?"
"I'm a man with a healthy appetite!" Zell said.
"Usually when men says that," Selphie replied, "they're talking about sex."
"Yea well," Zell said, starting to get flustered, "it can have more than one meaning."
"Irvine?" Selphie asked. Irvine, Balamb Garden's resident ladies' man/pervert, was the go-to guy on all arguments with sexual themes.
"She's right Zell," Irvine said. Zell's face fell, and Irvine felt sympathetic towards his hungry friend. "Usually, anyways, but I understood your meaning just fine." Zell perked up. "It did sound funny though," he said as he let out a laugh. "But since it was you, I knew you were talkin' about food."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Zell yelled while shaking his fist in the air. "And why don't we just settle this by asking Quistis?"
"That's a great idea Zell," Rinoa murmured as she snuggled closer to Squall.
Selphie ran out into the hallway and started calling for Quistis. It was during regular work hours, she was probably somewhere close to the administrative offices or the bridge. "Quisty! Yoo hoo!" Selphie called.
Quistis stopped chatting with Xu as she heard her name.
"Come over the commander's office Quisty. We NEED you!" Selphie said.
Quistis strolled to Squall's office with Xu trailing behind. Both were smartly dressed in their SeeD uniforms, unlike everybody else in the room.
"What's this about?" Quistis asked.
"What color is your casual outfit?" Selphie asked. "Pink or orange?" She was careful this time not to say which side she was on. This wasn't a popularity contest. This was for science.
Quistis covered her mouth and laughed. Was that all? Her friends could get so worked up over nothing.
"The catalogue I ordered it from probably has a description," Quisitis said, careful to not say what she thought of her own outfit. "I'll go get it from my room."
"Wow, you order clothes from a catalogue," Selphie said as Quistis was leaving. "That sounds so fancy. I just got my dress off the clearance rack."
"It shows Tilmitt, "Xu said.
Selphie turned to face Xu. She made fun of her beloved outfit. The bright yellow outfit that was an extension of her personality and very self. Now she was mad. "Xu, has anybody every referred to you as," she paused, "the 'B' word?"
"Bitches get things done Tilmitt," Xu responded without missing a beat, as if people mentioned this to her all the time. Her already straight and rigid back had somehow gone straighter. 'Bitches get things done' was one of her mottos. Her dorm room should have it emblazoned somewhere. Better than something stupid like 'Live, Laugh, Love' on it. Tilmit probably had some crap like that in her room. Or was it something stupid like 'Peace and Love'? Xu wasn't sure.
"Nice people get things done too," Selphie responded.
"You consider yourself 'nice'?" Xu asked while crossing her arms.
Selphie's head tilted back slightly. She was momentarily stunned. She was totally nice. How could that 'B' word say something like that to her? Selphie was a super nice girl. Wasn't she? Introspection check. She was a killer, but that was occupational, not personal. And they were usually monsters anyways. She could be forceful, but she just chalked that up to being really enthusiastic. She teased people sometimes, but it was in a playful and fun way, not in the way Xu did it. And that made it okay. Maybe.
"I'm nice," Selphie said after a few long moments.
"It took you long enough to answer that," Xu said. "Maybe you aren't so sure."
Xu was messing with Selphie's mind. Selphie resolved to dump glitter in Xu's office drawers when she wasn't looking. She'd show her how nice she was. Special delivery!
"I AM NICE!" Selphie yelled. She turned for backup and looked over at the boys.
Zell jumped back and yelled, "she's nice!" He looked slightly afraid.
"Let's get back on track here. Quistis' outfit is coral colored," Xu said.
"Yea coral," Selphie said. "But orange-ish coral or pinkish coral?"
Xu sighed. "I have things to do." She left the room abruptly just as Quistis came back in.
"I found the catalogue," Quistis said, raising it above her head. "Let's end this discussion and get back to work."
"You keep old catalogues?" Zell asked. He was a surprisingly neat individual. "Are you a hoarder?"
"The rest of you collect magazines," she said, as if that was a reasonable explanation.
"Yea but clothes catalogues aren't magazines," Zell said. "Clothes catalogues can't teach you new martial arts moves."
"Or teach your pet new tricks," Selphie said while pointing over to Rinoa who was still busy cuddling up with Squall. They'd worked their way over to the couch in the corner.
"Do you want me to read the description to you or not?" Quistis asked, raising one eyebrow at them.
"Yes!" Selphie said with exasperation.
Quistis slowly flipped through the catalog before she came across a familiar looking outfit that she'd ordered two years ago.
"It looks like this outfit came in a few different colors." She said while looking over the photos. "It came in 'daybreak delight,' 'morning mist', and 'sunset sky.'"
What colors would those refer to? Cream? Gray? Blue? Purple? Orange? Pink?
"Those color names aren't the most definitively descriptive," Selphie complained.
"I didn't name them," Quistis said. "And I ordered the 'sunset sky' color, in case you were wondering. So that's its official color,'sunset sky'"
"But what color is 'sunset sky'?! It's making me crazy! Pink or orange?!" Selphie yelled while shaking her tight fists in the air.
"Pink!" yelled some.
"Orange!" yelled others.
"Both," Nida answered reasonably from down the hall, not that anybody had thought to ask him. He'd been left out again.
Everybody was just going to have to agree to disagree... after fighting for another half hour.
The end.
Author's notes: I wrote most of this in my head in the shower this morning. I'm sure it shows. Sorry about any typos I missed.
What color do you guys think Quistis' outfit is? Orange? Pink? Salmon? Mango? Peach? Sunset Sky? The world will never know. I guess it looks different on different TV screens or computer monitors.