Tifa got into the outfit she had worked so hard on and was pleased with it.
She wore fishnet pantyhose with thigh high knee socks over top, that had red bows at the front. The dress itself was little than more a black peasant dress that was shorter in the front then the back. It had red organza sleeves and red ribbon trimmed the base of the skirt. That drew attention to the red cherry blossom wutai embroidered satin under bust, front laced corset she wore. She wore knee length black leather boots as well. A red scarf covered the top her head and this was crowned with the obligatory black pirate hat, but this one had the jolly roger depicted in red and black feathers graced it. Tifa added gold hoops to her ears and fastened a wide black leather belt around her waist from which dangled a fake cutlass.
She tried to find enthusiasm for her date when all she could think about was Cloud donning his matching costume and them dancing the night away. She had resolved that she would be polite to Sephiroth and be a good date to him, but it wasn't the same. With Cloud as her date it would have been...beautiful. With Sephiroth as her date it would be...dull. He was visually stunning, that was true but he was well, stogy.
She was just putting the finishing touches on her red kiss proof lipstick when she heard a knock at the door, then wondered why she had bothered with the extra expense of buying kiss proof lipstick if she was going to the party with Sephiroth.
Sephiroth stood outside of her door, reminding himself proper etiquette for meeting a lady at her door."Okay, I give her the flowers and don't go inside unless she invites me to. Compliment her appearance and help her on with her coat or wrap if she is wearing one" he recited to himself, wondering why anyone got any enjoyment out of dating, there were so many things to remember.
Tifa opened the door just as a bouquet of roses was brutally thrust towards her and she leapt back and got into a defensive stance before she caught herself. "Hello Miss Lockhart, I got you some flowers, I hope you like roses" Sephiroth said as woodenly as a talking head on the news as he burnished them towards the startled martial artist. "I must say that you look, lovely...what's wrong?" he asked at her weird posture.
"Nothing, I'm just not used to being attacked by posies. Thank you, it's the thought that counts. Would you like to come in while I put them in water?" she asked him, knowing she couldn't leave him to stand outside in the cold, so not knowing what else to do with him, she invited him in.
"Thank you" he said and stepped indoors.
"Don't bother removing your boots, please have a seat on..." she said and just as he slipped off his trench coat. "What are you wearing?!" she cried in a startled voice.
"It's the costume you directed me to pick up" he said, feeling his face flushing. "It is okay isn't it?"
He wore the standard combination of bat wing pirate shirt that was open down the middle of his body, had a wide black leather belt at his waist, black pants and folded over black leather slouch boots, but the difference was that his black pirate shirt was sheer, making his preternatural pale skin seem to glow beneath it. Then there were his pants, they weren't just snug, they were black shiny spandex pants and the way the light hit them showed off what appeared to be every contour of his manhood. Tifa was struck by three things 1. General Sephiroth didn't seem to have any underwear on. 2. The goddess had certainly blessed him indeed. 3. What the hell would he look like hard? Tifa had the urge to cover him with a blanket and to ask him if he had stuffed a pair of socks down the front of his pants. "You look great" she said as enthusiastically as she could muster, he looked a couple of shades shy of indecent in fact."I'm sure you'll get lots of attention."
"Attention? Why would that be?" he asked her, his brows creeping up in confusion at this.
"Well, you know all of that...long beautiful hair of your. You look quite the vision in your costume" she said, looking pointedly up into his eyes, not allowing her own to drift downwards to where his manhood glared out in challenge through his painted on pants.
"Thank you, I thought it might be a tad too much. I wasn't quite comfortable in it until you assured me just now. I feel I can trust your judgment" he said, giving her a fleeting smile that briefly made him look years younger than his twenty eight years. "I do like your costume as well."
"Yours in certain memorable" she said.
"Aren't you going to put those flowers in water?" he reminded her and she looked down to where she was still holding the damp bundle of stems in a death grip.
"Oh, right. Be right back" she said and went to trim the stems and noted that they seemed to have been purchased in an actual flower shop and not at a gas station and were the first flowers she had ever received in her life and this made her glow a little. Cloud had not believed in cut flowers, saying that they would die anyway.
His gifts were always small things that he thought with appeal to her, but never sentimental items. More like a book by her favourite author and a cookbook for a new type of cooking that she wanted to try. That sort of thing, well appreciated but not something she could wear on her finger, especially on her marriage finger.
She came back to find Sephiroth sitting on her couch and thumbing through her book. "I hope you don't mind. I saved your place. I haven't read this one yet" he said placing the bookmark back in place and putting it down with a care that Tifa appreciated. She hated mistreated book with dogeared pages and all that to mark the reader's place. All of her own books looked almost brand new.
"I can loan it to you when I'm done with it" she offered.
"Thanks that would be very kind of you" surprised by her offer. "Can I help you into your coat?" he asked in a way that reminded her of the various young boys from her high school that attempted to impress her parents with their manners when they came to pick her up for dates.
"Sure" she said handing it to him and swept her hair up out of the collar as he carefully drew it up her arms and settled it into place. "Just one question, is your costume one piece of two?" she asked him.
"One piece" he replied.
"How are you going to relieve yourself?" she asked him.
"Excuse me?" he said in a strangled voice, flushing with embarrassment at her question. "That is not something I would ever consider doing in public" he empathically assured her.
"I meant pee" she said and was struggling internally not to laugh at what he had had thought she meant.
"Invisible zipper" he replied and this cracked her up.
She had to admit that Rufus had shelled out some serious cash when they walked into the hotel. The dining area was darkly lit only with orange floodlights angled into the corners, the tables set with black tablecloths, making the silver place settings and silver coloured ladder backed chairs glint. A jack o lantern resided in the middle of each table and also a ghostly looking centerpieces of twisty black branches with glowing makos suspended from them. All of the wait staff wore different types of black metal lace masks.
Tifa exclaimed in delight at how an actual haunted house had been incorporated into the decor of the dance floor that pulsed with deadly rhythm in tune to the eerie light show as they toured the place before sitting down to dinner.
Sephiroth's outfit got quite the double takes but luckily, he didn't seem to notice as he led her over to their table to make sure they could find it before touring the place.
Tseng had carefully chosen the people for their table to because Sephiroth wasn't known for his laid back manner, so he chose people who were. Besides Yuffie and himself, he had asked Elena and Reno, who was escorting her to join them and Rude, with his own date, Jess. A delightfully sweet caramel skinned girl with a wide smile, large soft brown eyes that danced when she looked at him and sun streaked hair dark hair.
"Are you having a good time?" Sephiroth asked her, giving her that unnerving stare again that he didn't realize was. He had been instructed to maintain eye contact with his date.
"Yes I wouldn't mind having my fortune read" she said, looking across the room at the fortune teller.
"That stuff is such a waste of time. She's going to look at your ring finger and see that you aren't married and say there is a dark haired man in your future" he said.
"Oh come on, it's fun. You go first" she said pointing towards the unattended table. "I'll just hang back here so she can't use me in her fortune" she said urging him forward.
"There is no point, these people are all fakers, they notice things about people and then make up a fortune based on that" he said.
"Come on, where is your sense of adventure?" she asked him giving him a crooked smile.
"I don't have one; I only believe in scientific facts" he groused.
"Come on, for me then" she said.
"Oh very well" he said with a sigh and walked over to her table.
"Who approaches Madame Zenka?" the young gypsy asked him.
"It's...a stranger" he said. "I would like to have my fortune told" he said having a seat opposite her.
"I need the palm of your left hand" she said and he cringingly gave it to her and she traced her slim finger along the lines there in a way that almost tickled him. "Yours in an old soul, you have been through many lifetimes and this one hasn't treated you very well. You were born at another time and have died and returned to your present form more than once because of an entity who controlled you, but that is no longer the case. You feel displaced, like you have no place you belong, you dream of it all stopping but it won't. You have known infinite pain and suffering but have come through all of that. Your future isn't half so bleak as you believe and your greatest wish can be achieved if you only let your true emotions show" she said.
"Well that was nice and cryptic" he said, taking his hand back. "As if you don't know who I am" he said stalking away, more disturbed by what the girl had said then he cared to admit.
"See, sheer nonsense, it was all bunk" he declared, joining Tifa.
"My turn" she said making her way over to the table.
"Hello, I would like to get my fortune read" she said to the lady.
"Madame Zenka needs your left hand then" she said and traced the lines of her hand. "You are involved with a man who is false to your feelings when there is a new trustworthy man who will give you what you seek if you are willing to forget past wrongs, no matter how atrocious they are. Love is there to claim if you are willing to overcome all barriers he will put up" she said.
"So I suppose he'll be a dark, handsome stranger?" Tifa said skeptically.
"He is neither dark nor a stranger, you know him but don't know the real him, not yet" she intoned.
"I guess you saw the guy I was with" Tifa said taking her hand from the woman.
"I'm legally blind, I can only see what the spirits of fates reveal to me" the girl explained.
"Well?" Sephiroth asked her upon her return, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"You were right; total bunk" she agreed.
"Sephiroth, Tifa, over here" Yuffie's voice split the air.
"Hi Yuffie, I love your Little Bo Peep costume" Tseng said to the Wutaian girl, who wore pink a checked blouse and full skirt with an apron over top, matching bonnet and carried a shepherds hook. "Tseng, you look very..." Tifa said turned to him and Sephiroth's hand covered his mouth to muffle the sound of his mirth. Tseng wore a full wooly body suit of a lamb with black ears, coven footed matching boots and a pink bow around his neck, his costume was open faced and his nose had been blackened by makeup.
"Commander Xu?" Sephiroth said with his eyebrows raised and eyes squinted, still struggling not to laugh.
"Yuffie decided to surprise me with our costumes, at least I don't have my manhood practically on display" he said defensively.
"At least I have one to display right now" Sephiroth said with a smirk.
Tifa had to admit she was having a good time as the eight people remained together after dinner and even Sephiroth proved entertaining in his way at his endless recall for detail. They all explored the haunted house, which failed to scare any but the highstrung Yuffie whose loud screams startled the players more than their tricks and disguises did the rest of them.
Finally the couples started dancing and soon they each spun in tune to the slow dances. Sephiroth seemed just fine watching the others. "Would you like to dance?" he startled her by asking.
"Do you know how?" she asked him.
"Daughters of dignitaries had to be kept entertained, as long as a SOLDIER didn't have two left feet, he was taught to dance with them" he said holding out his hand.
Tifa almost laughed at how far back he stood from her, there was plenty of space for the Goddess in between them as he led her gracefully around the dance floor with more rhythm than she normally possessed. She covered her mouth with her hand when he bowed over her hand at the end. He was so stuffy!
"I would like a drink, would you care for one?" Sephiroth asked her.
"Sure I would like a white wine" she said.
"I'll go get it" Sephiroth offered, going to the second bar.
"So Sephiroth, you think you're going to score tonight?" a voice beside him asked.
He turned in annoyance to see Sergeant Ross there.
"I have no plans other than making sure my date gets safety home" Sephiroth said through clenched teeth.
"You would probably have to join the line for her anyway" he said.
"Do not talk about Tifa like that" he ordered him.
"Come on Sephiroth, admit you got it on with her. The perpetual virgin act is fooling no one" Sergeant Ross said. Meanwhile Tifa had decided to follow him and felt tears come to her eyes at the insults. So many men assumed because of the way she dressed, she was easy. But she wasn't, she had only been with one man in her life and still pined for him. She waited for Sephiroth to tell the other man she had turned down many times, that what he said was true. They always did. For someone who slept in a lonely bed Cloud had long ago vacated, she certainly had a lot of bed partners in people's imaginations.
Instead he grabbed Sergeant Ross and shoved him against the wall. "You know, I am getting quite sick of your attitude. Tifa is a lady and would never have succumbed to any type of charm you claimed to have. She is no more a harlot than you are a gentlemen. Why do you feel the need to cast aspersions upon her character? Was it because she refused you and agreed to go on a date with me? Yes, I think that it is. If a man is secure in his manhood, he wouldn't go around shooting his mouth off about affairs that don't concern him. Now I shall be taking Tifa home at the end of the night and if she decides to kiss me good night, that is my business and hers" he said and then got the drinks and prepared to leave the annoying man's presence.
Tifa felt a wave of tenderness toward him for defending her honour, that she grabbed his arm as he was about to walk past her.
"There you are, baby. I changed my mind about that drink, let's go dance. They're playing our song" she purred at him, leveling a smoldering glance at him as her arm wrapped around his waist.
"Um, yeah" he sputtered as his own arm awkwardly wrapped around her back, not knowing what else to do it with it.
"Sergeant Ross, how dare you keep Sephikins to yourself" she said towed him away.
"Sephikins?" Sephiroth thought as he stumbled beside her, wondering if he were in an alternate dimension. He had to have been with Tifa clinging onto him, flirting and calling him by strange monikers.