Chapter 10: Conundrums Born from Resolutions

Vanille's eyes lit up as an idea sprang in her head, and she nearly spilled the soda from her cup as she waved her arms about to get everyone's attention. She placed her cup down before an accident could happen, and hopped and skipped and swayed in place instead. "Oooohh! Uuugh! Ooh!"

Seeing this, Noel nodded to the direction of the washrooms. "If you need some private time, you can do it over there."

She stopped, raising an annoyed eyebrow at him, then shook her head. "Anyway. Idea! I have it!" She looked expectantly at the small circle of celebrants, waiting for them to prompt her to impart the Greatest Idea Ever.

But they simply stared back: the two males unwilling to oblige and enjoying watching her squirm (because they could be assholes like that), while the Seeress was no doubt already aware of her idea and not willing to spoil it for everyone. That left their still-in-courting potential model, who couldn't help but notice Vanille directing her hopeful and eager expression toward her since her fellow group-mates weren't forthcoming with the prompt.

I'm not gonna like this, am I? thought Claire to herself, already feeling her spine chill at what was in store for her.

Releasing a resigned exhale, she voiced out against her better judgment, "What is it?"

All too pleased, Vanille rubbed her hands together and jumped on the balls of her feet in excitement. "We should take a picture of you in this get-up to promote our group."

"..."

I knew it, thought Claire, left with simply repeating her initial reaction. "..."

Seeing this, Vanille waved her arms at the pink-haired, exhibiting her way of alleviating the air of refusal emanating from Claire.

"It's just for our website," claimed the redhead. "Since it's better to show how that outfit is worn, that's all. I mean, mannequins can't really demonstrate the full visual effect of that garb, you know?" She looked at the rest of the group. "What do you guys think?"

"I agree," responded Yeul readily, rising from her stool and walked to the storage at the back, retrieving a camera from a drawer. She addressed the reluctant model, "This isn't for the project for the Princess of Dalmasca, Lightning, so I hope you don't think of this as us trying to pressure you to say 'yes' to that."

Gazes turned to Noel, who shrugged. "The boss has spoken. Seconding—or thirding—the motion."

Attention then was directed to Hope, whose green eyes quickly flitted over Claire's figure, then he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "Light—er, Claire—doesn't seem comfortable with this idea, so I'm handing in my veto."

Despite what Yeul said about the supposed lack of pressure, Claire felt it anyway as their eyes turned to her, and she acknowledged that they were thoughtful enough to want her input since she was the one who would be the most affected here.

She tried to weigh the idea in her mind: the photo would mean being seen by who knew how many people online, whereas the modeling thing for the project would only be seen by the chosen audience who would be allowed into the venue (she was guessing, from what she could remember seeing of a fashion show on television, it gave her the idea that it wasn't open to just everyone). But the biggest difference would be that the project would be live, in person, and if she made a mistake along the way, the audience would be privy to it and she would feel ashamed for letting down the group. At least with the picture, if she made a blunder, only she and the group would know of it and could readily rectify it by them taking a different photo or editing it with some program.

It seemed it was pretty clear which of these was the lesser of two evils.

But only by a minuscule, microscopic margin.

"I guess it's fine," yielded Claire, risking a sidelong glance at the silver-haired, who, to her puzzlement, flushed crimson.

"Alright!" Vanille punched the air. "That's four for 'yea' and one for 'nay'!" She patted the brunet male on the shoulder. "C'mon, we better set things up, then."

Noel took one last swig of his drink before following Vanille to the foyer to help rearrange the furniture for their makeshift photography session.

"It's roomier over there once you moved the chairs," said Hope by way of explanation, rising from his stool to make his way to where they were to lend his assistance.

Claire followed suit and stood by the front desk counter, watching as they hung a wide white cloth onto hooks on the wall as a backdrop, then smoothed down the excess fabric laying on the floor.

"Do you need any help?" the pink-haired found herself offering.

"Thank you, Lightning, but no," replied the Seeress from behind her, who then gently took her by the hand and led her back to the dressing room. "They'll be done in no time, so just sit and relax here. I'll just freshen you up a bit for the pictures."

As he propped up the stand for an umbrella diffuser, Hope clucked his tongue, directing an annoyed gaze at Vanille, who continued to pointedly send him a gloating, knowing smirk.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked exasperatedly.

She elbowed Noel. "Can you believe how transparent this guy is?"

The brunet took a step back, his arms raised in surrender. "Leave me out of this."

The redhead gasped, affronted by the fact that Noel wouldn't back her up in a pastime that had become her favourite: teasing Hope. It's his loss, she thought snidely before turning to the object of her ridicule.

"Well?" prompted the silver-haired.

For a start, Vanille shook her head. "Vetoing this?" She spread her arms to take in their surroundings, watching as he set up another umbrella diffuser. "Because she looked 'uncomfortable'? Who do you think you're kidding? YOU'RE the one who didn't want her picture taken." She waited for him to catch the bait, feeling all too gleeful that he fell for it.

"Oh, you think so, huh? So, then, tell us, all-knowing-one, what brought you to that stupid, brainless conclusion."

She crossed her arms. "Because you don't want other people to ogle her, that's why."

He sputtered. "W-wha – t-that's – the fuck are you on?!"

"She turns you on, and you don't want other people to be turned on by her either."

"Vanille, your brain is full of an adamantoise's excrement."

"Hey!"

"—Everything looks like it's good to go," interrupted Yeul from behind them, arm in arm with Claire. "Are you two finished squabbling like children?"

"She started it!" yelled Hope, pointing to Vanille, who was sticking her tongue out at him. Feeling chastised and embarrassed at being witnessed behaving in such a manner, he ducked his head, grumbling unintelligibly, deciding that it would be best to stay out of the way lest he made a further fool of himself.

But it seemed it was not to be when he felt Yeul drop a weighty object in his hands. He looked down, then up to her in horror.

"I can't," he said immediately before she had a chance to open her mouth.

But she simply smiled and ploughed on. "This is to make up for all the work you're going to be missing in the next few days."

"Wha—?" he began, then realization hit. "Oh. You had a vision. Of me going away."

"Uh-huh." She closed his hands around the camera. "Plus, this is also something to tide you over while you're away and unable to see her."

"Wha—?"

"Though I can't say it would improve your symptoms. Your 'epistaxis' looks pretty serious and all."

"Wha—?"

"Now, c'mon. While Claire's still willing to help us out." She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Don't want to keep her waiting."

"Like this?" asked Lightning, left hand raised up to her left shoulder, fingering the ends of her hair, while her right arm hung straight down her side. She stood with her right foot crossed in front of her left. Behind, she could feel the white furry tail curling about, while above, the ears seemed to be behaving themselves and staying put. A smile almost made its way on her lips as she stared at the camera Hope was hiding behind in.

"Yep, that's perfect," he replied as he took a bunch of pictures, moving so he could take some in different angles.

"Try another pose," suggested Vanille helpfully from the side, holding up another diffuser to help with the lighting.

"And don't forget to relax," directed Yeul from behind Hope as Claire turned, a bit uncertain of what she should do next. She followed the Seeress's instruction and took a deep breath.

"What kind of a pose?" asked the pink-haired.

"Victorious? Seductive?" responded Noel, holding up a light overhead. "Victoriously seductive?"

Claire frowned, thought for a moment then thrust a hip to the side and raised her arms over her head. "What about this?"

"..." replied Hope, resolutely keeping his face behind the camera to hide the redness and heat that had come over him, and simply kept clicking away.

It was hard for Claire to gauge his reaction, not being able to see it and all, except for his ears when he genuflected in front of her – and those happened to be flushed. She couldn't tell if it was because it was hot under all the lighting or if it was due to something else, but somewhere deep down inside of herself, she wished it had something to do with her. It was this wish that precipitated the pose that came next.

Victoriously seductive, huh, she thought, and made another attempt at it by bending at the waist, giving Hope a good view of the sudden cleavage she'd obtained with this garb, her left hand resting on her hip while her right hand was on her knee, and her head turned coyly to the side.

She couldn't help noticing how tightly Hope had gripped the camera as he clicked away, nonstop, his index finger seemingly stuck on the shutter button, and his breathing uneven.

It could be the combination of newly shorn hair and the ridiculously sexy outfit, but Claire had to admit she was liking the heady powerful feeling it gave her to elicit this kind of response from him. Even though she couldn't see Hope's expression, it was the rest of him that was giving him away. He could be pretty transparent, as Vanille claimed.

Losing herself to it, to the persona of Lightning, she struck several other poses guaranteed to make him keel...

And keel he did, his nose exploding out a bloody mess on his face and his near vicinity—which happened to be Claire herself.

Good thing the camera was between them to take the brunt of the eruption.

"Don't worry about it, it's not a big deal," Yeul was saying in an attempt to assuage the pink-haired.

Having finished cleaning off the blood that had landed on her, Claire was now back in her own clothes, feeling guilty and responsible. Inside the small kitchen behind the bar that the House of Paddra used as the laundry room, she was helping Yeul and Vanille scrub the mess, while still fresh, that had landed on the outfit as well as the cloth they were using as a backdrop, feeling as though it was the least she could do. She was only grateful that at least the fabrics weren't the dry clean type, and that this really wasn't much different from having to wash spilled period off her underwear. Well, except that the blood was from a male this time.

She couldn't help looking at the direction of the men's washroom. "Do you think Hope's okay?" she asked.

"He did say he's fine," replied the Seeress. "The bleeding stopped almost immediately after I asked him if he wanted some tampons for it. He's mopping and disinfecting the sitting area with Noel now."

Vanille chuckled. Wiping the suds to get a better look at the fabric, she held it up to the light and saw that only minor scattered and faded droplets remained, then resumed her task of scrubbing, sending Yeul a sidelong glance. "You had a vision about him earlier, right? I saw you, and you looked really shocked there."

The girl with steel-blue hair shook her head. "I don't think I can really talk about what I saw."

"O-kay." Smiling, the redhead was undeterred. "Yeul, you know you can't just say something like that and not expect me to want to know about it, right?"

The Seeress sent Vanille and Claire a pleading look. "I'm not sure I understand it myself either."

Vanille piped up, "Well, maybe Lightning and I can help you with that? We can brainstorm about it or something. Right, Lightning?"

Claire started, eyes drifting between the two young women. "If it's too hard, then I don't think we should force her to tell us about it." Despite what she said, she couldn't help the curiosity that nagged at her.

The Seeress pursed her lips as she thought, looking down at the cloth in her hands. Every now and then her mouth opened and closed, on the brink of revelation, before emitting a sigh instead as she thought better of the situation. The other two waited, albeit laced with impatience, and to fill the time the three of them simply finished up with their chore, hanging up the outfit to dry in the clothes line and stuffing the linen in the washing machine. Once the machine was running, they stood in the middle of the room, looking expectantly at each other. Eventually, Yeul reward them with: "I saw...Bhunivelze."

Claire and Vanille leaned forward, brows furrowed in varying states of puzzlement.

"Bhunivelze? You mean the Maker? As in the actual creator of the world?" asked Vanille.

Yeul pursed her lips. "Yes – no – I don't really know. I don't know what he looks like, you know, being a god and all. In the same way we don't really know what Pulse, Lindzei, or Etro look like. But the name popped into my head during – when I saw Hope's blood when he was running to the men's room that first time."

The redhead began to pace, mind racing. "Have you ever had visions of something similar when you met other members of his family?"

"Why?"

"I just wondered, that's all. I mean, I remember seeing your eyes all glowy the first time we met his Uncle Jo, so..."

Yeul thought for a moment. "I did have one then, but that one was different. I saw something else with him. Something different."

"Different how?"

"Well...not like god-different. More like alien-different."

The redhead slapped a fist into the palm of her hand. "I knew it! The rumours are true about the Crescents being test tube babies experimented on with weird things and stuff."

The Seeress shook her head. "We don't really know that, Vanille."

"Of course, we do! Your visions are the proof."

"Having visions does not equal proof, Vanille, since they are things I can't really describe or make tangible either. Let's try to be logical here."

"I am being logical. It's not that I don't appreciate that Hope's smart and helps keep our grades up for this project, but still, you just can't help but be suspicious about how he and his family seem to be so perfect about everything they do."

For the entire duration, Claire had simply contented herself as a mere spectator in order to learn more about the man that had been intriguing her since they met, as well as to know how the people closest to him saw him. There were too many things she still wasn't understanding, but that bewilderment was outweighed by the desire to rise up to defend someone she barely knew, and she found herself voicing out, "Maybe that's just the way they really are? Some people are just born really fortunate. And I mean, doesn't what you're suggesting in and of itself sound farfetched?"

"'Farfetched'? What, the fact that they have some sort of god or alien genes in them?" Vanille stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, okay, I have to admit actually saying it out loud makes the whole idea sound really stupid and preposterous. But still... Don't you feel it, at least? That there's something off about them? That there's something about them that just doesn't belong here? In this world?"

Claire could feel a headache beginning to pound from behind her eyes, and couldn't believe she was actually contributing to this conversation. "Let's say, for a moment, that you're right. Where would they—the scientists, or whoever experimented on them—get the alien genes from?"

"From aliens, of course," replied Vanille as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Claire rolled her eyes. "No, I mean, has there been some sort of documentation or discovery about alien life forms on this planet?"

The redhead hesitated. "Well...not that I know of. But the government could be covering something up, because that's what governments do. A-and we have monsters and stuff, so there might be an alien species thingy hidden among them or something." Even Vanille didn't find her own words convincing.

"Okay. Well, what about gods, then?"

"Hello? There's the Fal'Cie!"

"Yeah, okay. But even if those are gods, they're still made out of machines, so how will you be able to get some sort of cells or whatever from them?"

"I...I don't know."

"Anyway, I don't think you can splice metallic what-have-yous onto babies while they're still in the womb. Wouldn't the mother's body try to purge off something like that?"

"I...I think so," relented Vanille with a small voice.

"Besides, Yeul said she saw Bhunivelze. As in, the creator of the universe. We know he exists only because religious people say so, but that's in the same sense that we all believe gravity exists because we don't all float up in the air when we move. You know? Does that make sense?"

Vanille could only reply with a very deep, exaggerated pout filled with the disappointment over the loss of a belief she'd held dearly, feeling as though she had been betrayed by it for not being rationally believable. She huffed out a breath and crossed her arms.

"We just had to bring logic into this," she grumbled as she stamped her foot before storming out of the room.

With the cleanup done, the House of Paddra crew and their model-in-potentia packed up the leftover celebratory feast, divided it up between themselves, then closed up shop for the day.

Even as late as nearly seven in the evening, the sun was only beginning to set, and Claire stretched her shoulders as she walked out into the small courtyard at the front of the store, bordered by a balcony with the requisite invisible fence (to prevent anyone from falling off accidentally – and with the amount of children that kept tripping all over themselves that populated Academia, that was a very valid safety precaution). There were a couple of vending machines standing along the wall, benches set along the perimeter of the balcony, and some tree planters floating in the air across from the balcony.

Claire had found herself lingering. She could've gone on ahead as soon as she walked out the door, and yet here she stood, listening to the group's banter as they locked up their studio.

"Ready, Lightning?" called out Vanille as they were making their way towards the steps that led up to the street.

She turned and followed them up the stairs, tuning into their plans for the rest of the evening.

"Yeul and I will be heading to Demyx's place in Leviathan House," said Noel, holding hands with his girlfriend.

"Can I come with?" asked Vanille. "I want to see if he's still got some Silver Elite stuff left that I can nick from him." Then in a slightly louder voice, she explained, "Because someone can't be bothered to give me some freebies."

The group turned toward that someone, but he didn't rise up to the bait, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

Ever since the second time his nose bled, Hope had been mostly silent, bringing out his phone often to check the time. It was understandable that he was worried, and Claire could only guess that the reason he repeatedly checked the clock was because he'd somehow managed to secure a last-minute doctor's appointment and he couldn't wait to find out if anything was wrong with him.

Earlier, when Yeul was handing Hope the camera, she couldn't help overhearing their exchange about him missing a few days' work because he was going away. When she learned that, Claire couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought that he wouldn't be around, though she immediately berated herself for having such a thought.

Back on the street, she watched them make their way to where Hope was parked, and called out amidst their banter, "Thanks for the food…and the haircut."

The group stopped and turned.

"Oh, you're going already?" asked the redhead.

"My place is that way," she answered, pointing eastward.

"Oh, we're going to the south station to catch the train back to campus," said Yeul. "Maybe Hope can drive you to where you need to go? He's not coming with us anyway."

It was this that finally got a reaction out of the silver-haired. "Huh? Oh, yeah, Light. I can give you a lift."

Some niggling part of her found that notion mighty tempting, and Claire couldn't think of a reason to refuse even though she figured she should. "I don't want to impose—"

"Not at all. I'd be more than happy to." He opened the passenger-side door and held out his hand for emphasis.

I really shouldn't, thought Claire. I can't think of a reason why I shouldn't, but I just know I shouldn't. Mind made up, she took a deep breath and gave her answer.

"Alright."

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix.

APPENDIX

first pose - based on the pose of the Miqo'te garb when you view it in the Schemata menu in Lightning Returns

second pose - based on the victory pose for the Mist Wizard garb from the E3 playable demo of LR

third pose - the Miqo'te garb's victory pose

fourth pose and on - I leave to your imagination hahaha

A/N: Thanks very much to Anti-Nihilist, summerIIfire, sunflowerspot, H-thar, ArcanaElement, Guest for letting me know what you thought/felt about the previous chapter(s). I'm always appreciative that you took the time to write them ^_^
I hope this chapter alleviates some harshness from your day if you're not having a very nice one of it.

Thanks for reading! Really interested in what you thought of this chapter (please let me know) :)
Apr/2015