Chapter 1: First Impressions
Ok, so I didn't relive my entire life. In fact, the first thing I saw was the day I met Lenne for the very first time... well, in person, I mean. I, and just about every guy in Zanarkand, had heard of Lenne. She was the songstress extraordinaire.
It all started after one typical day of blitzball practice. Me and the guys were going to hang out. While we were walking around, deciding on what to do, one of them suddenly came up with the idea that we should all go see Lenne's concert. We were just gonna goof around and stare at her the entire time. Then, we'd sneak in backstage and one of us would try to hook up with her. So I figured, why not. After all, I hadn't anything better to do.
We snuck into the concert at around 8 o'clock. Actually, we didn't even need to sneak in at all, since all of us were on the Zanarkand Abes and we were just as popular as little miss popstar was. After all, I was Shuyin, err rather, Tidus, and I was the best blitzball player anyone had ever seen. I called myself Tidus because I didn't want my fans to know my real name. They'd be able to find my address and stuff and I'd never hear the end of it. I'd be getting phone calls and fan mail and fan girls at the door 24/7. I mean it wouldn't be that bad to see so many girls all over me, but I knew that sooner or later, I'd have enough of that. Anyway, we snuck in and took seats right next to the door that lead backstage. We watched the concert up until it finished at 11.
At first I figured this girl's singing would be just like any other shallow singing sensation and I'd just get bored and fall asleep from the false lyrics. However, when Lenne got up and sang, I was carried into the clouds by every note. This girl could sing! She really could sing! Not only that, but her singing didn't even sound false. It was amazing.
When the concert ended, the guys dragged me off to the back and started talking about who would be the guy that would have the job of getting a date. They voted aloud and all fingers pointed to me. "Wait! What? No! Hold on a sec!" I kept saying all those things to the guys as they grabbed me and shoved me into her dressing room. She was standing there, looking at herself in the mirror, when I came crashing in.
"What? Who are you?" She turned to look at me. I froze. I don't even know why I froze. I mean, she knew who I was. Everyone in Zanarkand knew who I was. However, at that moment, I just forgot everything and backed up into the door. I really wanted to talk to her and get to know her and having my friends eavesdropping wouldn't really help. I shut the door and locked it and she looked a bit scared. I didn't know why. Then, I realized exactly why. I, some guy who just barged into her dressing room like some kind of crazed fan boy, just shut the door behind me and locked it, leaving the two of us alone. I must have seemed like some sort of rapist to her. "O no. Wait. No. I. The door. I mean. You see. I." Nice speech, huh? She couldn't help but crack up at my nervousness. I heard laughter from two different places. One was from Lenne, the other was from behind the door. My friends had heard the entire thing and were rolling on the floor laughing like a pack of hyenas. "You know, you might want to get some speaking lessons." She was mocking me, now. I was so embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you and make you think I was some kind of perverted fan boy." I tried to get back my dignity by using coherent sentences in my speech again. "Well, I won't be afraid of you if you could tell me who you are." WHAT?!! She didn't know who I was?! She really had no idea? "I'm Shuyin." Wait a second. Shouldn't I be telling her I was Tidus? Nah. She wasn't one of those fans. "I'm Lenne. It's nice to meet you, Shuyin." So now we were acquainted. "So, uh, would ya like to have a cup of coffee with me sometime?" She put her finger up to her chin and pondered, jokingly. I guess I had definitely taken away any seriousness she would have ever shown me with my entrance. "Hmm, I'll have to think about that." She kept up this stunt of hers for a while until she saw how annoyed I was getting. "I'm just kidding. I'd love to. But, I don't drink coffee so how about I just give you my number and you can call me when you think of something?" I couldn't help but smile at her since she was being so kind to this klutz. "Ok, sure!" She wrote her number down and handed it to me. I took it, smiled and decided I should high tail it out of there before I lose anymore of my dignity. "O wait! Watch out! You didn't unlock the..." Smash. My face hit the door hard and again I heard two sides of laughter. "You didn't unlock the door." Lenne said to me with giggle after giggle. I quickly unlocked the door and looked back at her with my million dollar smile to try and mitigate my humiliation, but when I turned back to open the door, I smacked it right into my face again. That was it. I lost all of my self-respect and saw my friends crying from laughing too hard. They were on the floor, gasping for air, and Lenne was tearing as well. I'd never hear the end of this. My friends would never let me live that down.
The next day, I called her. I asked her if she wanted to go see that new movie that was playing. Personally, I didn't want to see that movie because it was some sappy chick flick, but it would give me time to talk to her and show her that I wasn't some bumbling idiot. She said that she'd meet me there so I said okay and got dressed. I waited less than a minute for her when I got there. "Hi, Lenne!" I greeted her and a split second later, I realized my mistake. I was Tidus to everyone in Zanarkand and I was a blitzball superstar. She was Lenne and also the most famous songstress. It didn't take long for an army of fans to stampede our way hunting us down for autographs and pictures. I quickly grabbed her arm and ran with her to the only place I knew I'd be able to talk with her. First, I lost the fans by running into a hotel. Then, I left the hotel through a side exit, and dashed, with Lenne, to my house. Upon entering, the both of us gasped for breath and she giggled at me again. She was expecting the mob of fans and it was just the funniest thing for her to see me grab her and run all over Zanarkand.
"I'm having so much fun with you." She laughed while she headed for a sofa in my living room. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you were so popular." I said as I plopped myself on a sofa across from her. "Having all these fans can actually be fun when it lets me do things like this. Although, it also prevents me from being able to go places in public." She sighed and looked at me. She got up from her seat and walked over to me, sitting down next to me. "Something I didn't understand was when they started yelling, Tidus. Why would they be yelling about him?" She must have never even been to a blitzball game before. They don't show those games on SV. "You've never been to a blitzball game, huh?" I asked her. "No. Too many people would spot me for me to be able to do that." She said with a bit of grief. "Well, have you ever tried sneaking in?" I asked her since that was how I had gotten into her concert the day before. "Sneak in? Isn't that illegal?" She asked me. "Well, you have to do something or else you'll be missing out on everything Zanarkand has to offer." I answered. "Like you?" I smiled at her. "I have an idea. How about we sneak into the Abes game that will be taking place in two days? It'll be fun." "Sure! So you'll show me my first ever blitzball game. Is it really that fun? I've heard from the choreographers that it's always a great spectacle." The question allowed me to blab on about the wonders on my profession, so being me, I spouted out all my personal accounts of playing for the Abes without once mentioning that I was Tidus. "So you know a lot about this game. Well, from what you've said, I can't wait until two days from now." She responded after my practically hour-long speech. "Great. I'll just give you my address and number and you can come over and I'll take you to the stadium." I wrote down my address and my number and handed her the piece of paper. She took it and asked me if I would accompany her back to her house. She didn't want to walk by herself. Of course, I said yes and off we went. The good thing was that she didn't live too far away from me and so it was easy for me to show her how to get from my house to hers without drawing the attention of fans. When we got to her house, she decided to write down her address, too, wanting me to pick her up at her house for the game. I took the paper, said goodbye and headed home. She blew me a kiss and said she'd see me in two days.
Ok, so I didn't relive my entire life. In fact, the first thing I saw was the day I met Lenne for the very first time... well, in person, I mean. I, and just about every guy in Zanarkand, had heard of Lenne. She was the songstress extraordinaire.
It all started after one typical day of blitzball practice. Me and the guys were going to hang out. While we were walking around, deciding on what to do, one of them suddenly came up with the idea that we should all go see Lenne's concert. We were just gonna goof around and stare at her the entire time. Then, we'd sneak in backstage and one of us would try to hook up with her. So I figured, why not. After all, I hadn't anything better to do.
We snuck into the concert at around 8 o'clock. Actually, we didn't even need to sneak in at all, since all of us were on the Zanarkand Abes and we were just as popular as little miss popstar was. After all, I was Shuyin, err rather, Tidus, and I was the best blitzball player anyone had ever seen. I called myself Tidus because I didn't want my fans to know my real name. They'd be able to find my address and stuff and I'd never hear the end of it. I'd be getting phone calls and fan mail and fan girls at the door 24/7. I mean it wouldn't be that bad to see so many girls all over me, but I knew that sooner or later, I'd have enough of that. Anyway, we snuck in and took seats right next to the door that lead backstage. We watched the concert up until it finished at 11.
At first I figured this girl's singing would be just like any other shallow singing sensation and I'd just get bored and fall asleep from the false lyrics. However, when Lenne got up and sang, I was carried into the clouds by every note. This girl could sing! She really could sing! Not only that, but her singing didn't even sound false. It was amazing.
When the concert ended, the guys dragged me off to the back and started talking about who would be the guy that would have the job of getting a date. They voted aloud and all fingers pointed to me. "Wait! What? No! Hold on a sec!" I kept saying all those things to the guys as they grabbed me and shoved me into her dressing room. She was standing there, looking at herself in the mirror, when I came crashing in.
"What? Who are you?" She turned to look at me. I froze. I don't even know why I froze. I mean, she knew who I was. Everyone in Zanarkand knew who I was. However, at that moment, I just forgot everything and backed up into the door. I really wanted to talk to her and get to know her and having my friends eavesdropping wouldn't really help. I shut the door and locked it and she looked a bit scared. I didn't know why. Then, I realized exactly why. I, some guy who just barged into her dressing room like some kind of crazed fan boy, just shut the door behind me and locked it, leaving the two of us alone. I must have seemed like some sort of rapist to her. "O no. Wait. No. I. The door. I mean. You see. I." Nice speech, huh? She couldn't help but crack up at my nervousness. I heard laughter from two different places. One was from Lenne, the other was from behind the door. My friends had heard the entire thing and were rolling on the floor laughing like a pack of hyenas. "You know, you might want to get some speaking lessons." She was mocking me, now. I was so embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you and make you think I was some kind of perverted fan boy." I tried to get back my dignity by using coherent sentences in my speech again. "Well, I won't be afraid of you if you could tell me who you are." WHAT?!! She didn't know who I was?! She really had no idea? "I'm Shuyin." Wait a second. Shouldn't I be telling her I was Tidus? Nah. She wasn't one of those fans. "I'm Lenne. It's nice to meet you, Shuyin." So now we were acquainted. "So, uh, would ya like to have a cup of coffee with me sometime?" She put her finger up to her chin and pondered, jokingly. I guess I had definitely taken away any seriousness she would have ever shown me with my entrance. "Hmm, I'll have to think about that." She kept up this stunt of hers for a while until she saw how annoyed I was getting. "I'm just kidding. I'd love to. But, I don't drink coffee so how about I just give you my number and you can call me when you think of something?" I couldn't help but smile at her since she was being so kind to this klutz. "Ok, sure!" She wrote her number down and handed it to me. I took it, smiled and decided I should high tail it out of there before I lose anymore of my dignity. "O wait! Watch out! You didn't unlock the..." Smash. My face hit the door hard and again I heard two sides of laughter. "You didn't unlock the door." Lenne said to me with giggle after giggle. I quickly unlocked the door and looked back at her with my million dollar smile to try and mitigate my humiliation, but when I turned back to open the door, I smacked it right into my face again. That was it. I lost all of my self-respect and saw my friends crying from laughing too hard. They were on the floor, gasping for air, and Lenne was tearing as well. I'd never hear the end of this. My friends would never let me live that down.
The next day, I called her. I asked her if she wanted to go see that new movie that was playing. Personally, I didn't want to see that movie because it was some sappy chick flick, but it would give me time to talk to her and show her that I wasn't some bumbling idiot. She said that she'd meet me there so I said okay and got dressed. I waited less than a minute for her when I got there. "Hi, Lenne!" I greeted her and a split second later, I realized my mistake. I was Tidus to everyone in Zanarkand and I was a blitzball superstar. She was Lenne and also the most famous songstress. It didn't take long for an army of fans to stampede our way hunting us down for autographs and pictures. I quickly grabbed her arm and ran with her to the only place I knew I'd be able to talk with her. First, I lost the fans by running into a hotel. Then, I left the hotel through a side exit, and dashed, with Lenne, to my house. Upon entering, the both of us gasped for breath and she giggled at me again. She was expecting the mob of fans and it was just the funniest thing for her to see me grab her and run all over Zanarkand.
"I'm having so much fun with you." She laughed while she headed for a sofa in my living room. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you were so popular." I said as I plopped myself on a sofa across from her. "Having all these fans can actually be fun when it lets me do things like this. Although, it also prevents me from being able to go places in public." She sighed and looked at me. She got up from her seat and walked over to me, sitting down next to me. "Something I didn't understand was when they started yelling, Tidus. Why would they be yelling about him?" She must have never even been to a blitzball game before. They don't show those games on SV. "You've never been to a blitzball game, huh?" I asked her. "No. Too many people would spot me for me to be able to do that." She said with a bit of grief. "Well, have you ever tried sneaking in?" I asked her since that was how I had gotten into her concert the day before. "Sneak in? Isn't that illegal?" She asked me. "Well, you have to do something or else you'll be missing out on everything Zanarkand has to offer." I answered. "Like you?" I smiled at her. "I have an idea. How about we sneak into the Abes game that will be taking place in two days? It'll be fun." "Sure! So you'll show me my first ever blitzball game. Is it really that fun? I've heard from the choreographers that it's always a great spectacle." The question allowed me to blab on about the wonders on my profession, so being me, I spouted out all my personal accounts of playing for the Abes without once mentioning that I was Tidus. "So you know a lot about this game. Well, from what you've said, I can't wait until two days from now." She responded after my practically hour-long speech. "Great. I'll just give you my address and number and you can come over and I'll take you to the stadium." I wrote down my address and my number and handed her the piece of paper. She took it and asked me if I would accompany her back to her house. She didn't want to walk by herself. Of course, I said yes and off we went. The good thing was that she didn't live too far away from me and so it was easy for me to show her how to get from my house to hers without drawing the attention of fans. When we got to her house, she decided to write down her address, too, wanting me to pick her up at her house for the game. I took the paper, said goodbye and headed home. She blew me a kiss and said she'd see me in two days.