Chapter Twenty-Four
Aftermath
Quistis quickly stepped into the doctor's office and, hearing the doctor conversing with a patient in a room some distance away down the hallway, she entered the clinic room Squall was occupying. She immediately perceived he was sleeping and felt slightly guilty awakening him, after all he had been through. She realized she only had until Rinoa was finished tending to the slightly hysterical Akane to speak to Squall in privacy, because Rinoa would certainly come directly to the clinic.
Quistis quietly approached the bed and gently touched Squall's shoulder. "Squall" she spoke softly. Squall's eyes flew open and, after a second of disorientation, he distinguished Quistis and offered a halfway smile. "Hey Quisty."
"I'm sorry to bother you," she began, "but I can't rest, until I talk with you."
"What's wrong?" he wondered.
Quistis flushed slightly and admitted, "This is very difficult for me. I want to talk about what happened in the prison."
"Quistis, don't!" Squall pleaded. "Just let it go."
Quistis angrily stamped her foot. "No, Squall! We can't just let it go. If we do, it will color our relationship for the rest of our lives. Every time we see each other, we'll think of it. I don't know about you, but I'm unhappy with that. I need our friendship back."
Squall responded softly, "I'm still your friend, Quisty."
"Fine" she replied. "But until I talk this out, I don't know if I'm yours. When I first returned to the Garden from the prison, I was very angry at you. I blamed you for what happened to me."
"I do, too," Squall confessed.
"Well, that's wrong!" Quistis declared. "The person I should have been angry with was Mamoru, not you - but anger was not the real issue."
Perceiving the momentary puzzlement appearing on Squall's face, Quistis elaborated, "I was using anger to hide my true feelings from myself. I wasn't angry at you or anyone else, I was embarrassed."
Again Squall attempted to sabotage Quistis by appealing, "You don't have to do this; it doesn't matter to me."
Quistis silenced Squall by replying, "It matters to me. I initially thought I was embarrassed, because you had seen me naked, but that wasn't it. You can see me naked any time you wish, you only have to ask."
"Quistis" Squall protested, blushing deeply.
Quistis explained "I was embarrassed, because I was publicly humiliated by being stripped stark naked by strangers and you were there to witness it. I just wanted the entire situation to disappear and it wouldn't - not until I allow it to."
Quistis drew a deep breath and declared, "There I said it, and I do feel better. Now it's your turn."
Squall began to shake his head and Quistis responded, "You do know Rinoa will be here anytime and I'm not leaving the room, until you talk to me. This could get very sticky," she threatened.
"Okay" Squall surrendered. "I felt totally inadequate, because I wasn't able to protect you, and." Squall paused for a long second and then spoke in a rush, "I feel horribly guilty that I didn't speak, when you called out to me and, yet, at the same time, I realized I acted in the proper manner to keep us both alive."
"Of course you did" Quistis agreed.
Squall fell silent and then finally glanced away from the intent gaze of Quistis. Perceiving Squall had more to relate and hearing the doctor moving down the hallway and someone entering the clinic, Quistis implored, "We haven't much time. Just say it."
"The thing is," he began. "Squall" Quistis interrupted, "It doesn't count, if you're not looking at me."
Squall looked up at Quistis's, now sympathetic, face and confessed "I'm ashamed, because despite the horror of the situation and the uncertainty of whether we were going to live or die at any minute, underneath it all I really enjoyed seeing you naked."
"Oh, Squall" Quistis responded, "I should hope so. You're only human after all, aren't you?"
Quistis heard the sound of Rinoa's voice speaking to the doctor in the office and she leaned down and gave Squall a quick hug saying, "Thank you so much for everything." And she quickly left the clinic room.
Stepping into the clinic, Rinoa recognized the doctor strolling into her office from the hallway leading to the patient rooms.
"How's he doing?" Rinoa asked breathlessly.
"He's doing fine" Doctor Kadowaki reassured her. "I'm going to keep him for another hour just to be on the safe side, but you should be able to come get him then."
"Thank Hyne" Rinoa whispered and turned to enter the hallway leading to his room.
"How's Akane holding up?" asked the doctor.
Turning back to the doctor, Rinoa answered "As well as can be expected with everything she has been through. She's had one hell of a twenty-four hours, pardon my Galbadian."
Rinoa continued, "She's sleeping in my bed right now, the poor thing."
"I'll try to check in on her later, if I get the opportunity" the doctor volunteered.
"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it."
As Rinoa stepped into the hallway, she was surprised to observe Quistis leaving Squall's room. Quistis silently nodded at Rinoa and moved quickly around her and out of the clinic. Entering Squall's room, Rinoa was not surprised to see Squall laying flat on his back appearing totally bored. Leaning down, she embraced him in a big hug and noticed he winced. Stepping back quickly, she asked "Are you still in pain?"
"No, just a little sore" Squall admitted, "When am I getting outta here?"
"The doctor said in about an hour," Rinoa explained. "What did Quistis want?"
Squall flushed and, glancing away, answered, "She just wanted to talk for a minute."
Rinoa immediately perceived, knowing Squall as well as she did, that he was lying and thought "I'll worm this out of him later."
Rinoa smiled and asked, "What do you think about us becoming parents?"
Squall suddenly sat bolt upright appearing completely panic stricken. "What are you talking about?! Are you - you know?"
"No, silly. I'm talking about Akane, although someday naturally I would love us to have a child together."
With a ghastly parody of a grin appearing on his face, Squall spoke "Yes me too, but many somedays from now."
"Oh you!" Rinoa responded, offering him her most wondrous smile.
"Did you hear?" Rinoa asked excitedly, "Xu returned to her room from the clinic a couple of days ago."
"Yeah, so?" Squall commented totally disinterested.
"My father is still living there with her! He and Xu are a couple!"
This suprising statement managed to pique Squall's interest. "How do you feel about the possibility of having Xu as a step-mother?"
"I think it's wonderful and I'm so happy for my father. He's been so lonely, since my mother died so many years ago."
"This could mean Xu could become the First Lady of Galbadia," Squall speculated.
Suddenly Seifer appeared looming in the doorway. "Squall" he said.
Squall responded, "Seifer" and nodded at him. Seifer nodded back and left the room as quickly as he had appeared.
Rinoa shook her head silently, completely perplexed at that interaction or rather lack of.
General Caraway, clad only in a short striped bathrobe, stepped back into Xu's room from the corridor. "Where have you been?" Xu asked from behind the door of her private bathroom. Rank does have its privileges.
"I just spoke with Rinoa out in the hall and informed her about us" he answered.
Xu opened the bathroom door and hobbled into the room on her crutches. She was completely nude except for the leg cast she was still forced to wear. Her huge breasts swayed as she made her way to where General Caraway was standing. "Oh Dark Bahamut!" Xu exclaimed, "What did she say?"
The General bestowed a large smile on Xu and responded, "She appeared to be delighted for both of us."
"Oh, thank Hyne," Xu sighed. "I've been so worried about what she was going to think and whether she was going to be able to accept me in a new role."
"What's not to accept?" murmured General Caraway as he reached out and gently pulled Xu to him. Balanced on her crutches, she reached down and pulled open the sash of his bathrobe liberating his straining manhood. "I do love you so," she cried passionately.
As Seifer strode down the corridor from the infirmary following his conversation with Squall, he was pleasantly surprised to observe Mishima quickly approaching him on her way to check on Squall's condition.
Treading up to him, she paused and greeted, "Seifer, you've been busy while I was gone. You know, you've always rocked my world, but you were always such a screw-up I could never tell you. And now you've gone amd become a SeeD" Mishima continued, while leaning forward and rubbing his uniform shirt with her right hand.
"You've been busy yourself" Seifer responded, while cupping Mishima's right breast through her flimsy mid-riff white blouse with his left hand.
"Maybe we should take this to a less public place" Mishima suggested in a husky voice.
After walking silently together to his dorm room, Seifer unlocked the door and the two of them stepped inside. Seifer turned to close the door and lock it and, when he turned back, he was startled to observe Mishima slipping her suspenders off her shoulders and pulling her mid-riff white blouse over her enormous, beautifully shaped breasts and then over her head and off her body. Seifer stood completely transfixed as Mishima lay her blouse on the floor and then pushed her extremely, short, black skirt down to her feet. She then stepped out of her sheer panties and stood nakedly before him clad only in her shoes.
"Oh, Hyperion. You're so beautiful," Seifer murmured.
Mishima blushed prettily and lowered herself to her knees in front of Seifer. She reached up and unbuckled his belt and pulled his uniform trousers down to the floor. Seifer never wore any underwear. Remaining on her knees, Mishima began to kiss him everywhere she could reach.
"Oh, Great Hyne!" Seifer exclaimed.
Later in the evening, Kasumi and Shinji were talking in his dormitory room. He lay in his bed with his sheets pulled up to his chin and Kasumi was standing on the floor beside him.
"You'd better go, Kasumi" Shinji cautioned. "It's getting late."
"Not until I check your bandages," Kasumi insisted.
"They're fine" Shinji protested, flushing heavily.
"What's with you this evening?" Kasumi wondered. "You've been acting weird since I got back from Deiling City" Kasumi acccused and she suddenly reached down and pulled the sheets completely off the startled Shinji.
Shinji lay completely naked except for the bandages wrapped around his chest. "Oh, I get it now" Kasumi said while leaning over and gently unwrapping his bandages to check his stitches for any leakage. "You've been busy with yourself when I was gone" she giggled. "I hope it was me you were fantasizing about."
Rewrapping his bandages, Kasumi said, "They look fine, but what's this thing?" Kasumi gently brushed her hand on his suddenly extended protuberance.
Shinji audibly gasped while Kasumi removed her uniform blouse and skirt and stood stark naked before him.
"Kasumi!" Shinji exclaimed, "You weren't wearing anything under your uniform."
"A good SeeD has to be ready for any contingency" Kasumi intoned while climbing up on top of Shinji. Lowering herself on to him, she murmured, "Oh, it's so good to be back in the saddle again."
After dutifully retrieving Squall from the clinic at the appointed time, Rinoa helped him back to his room in the men's dormitory. After they entered the room, Squall sat heavily on his bed in preparation of immediately laying down.
"Oh no, you don't" Rinoa protested, "You're not going to sleep in that torn up clothing." And she began to strip off his jacket before Squall could lodge a complaint. Tossing his jacket into the corner of the room, she commented, "You're going to have to get a new jacket. That one is totally ruined."
"I was planning on having you sew it" Squall retorted with a grin.
Continuing to undress him by removing his badly shredded shirt, Rinoa replied, "Is that all you think I'm good for?"
Presently bare-chested, Squall answered "That among other things."
"Like what?" Rinoa responded and then ordered him to stand up. Regaining his feet, Squall stood while Rinoa proceeded to remove his badly damaged pants. Squall stood clad incongruously in his blood stained jockey-shorts and heavy boots.
"Oh, I don't know. I'll probably think of something" he replied.
"Rinoa, don't!" Squall protested as she suddenly yanked his partially shredded underwear completely off his body.
"You're not wearing this bloody thing to bed," Rinoa explained while throwing the jockey-shorts over with his ruined jacket.
"Sukooru," Rinoa spoke, using her pet name for Squall. "What did Quistis want?" Rinoa questioned and when Squall remained silent, she suddenly dropped to her knees and began to expertly apply her mouth to his lengthening manhood.
"Oh Rinoa!" Squall exclaimed.
A few moments later, a fully dressed Rinoa lay cuddled beside a totally nude Squall in his narrow dormitory bed while he related to her the events, which occurred when he and Quistis were imprisoned in the D-District Prison and the present aftermath of Quistis's feelings concerning this. When he had finished his recounting, Rinoa replied "Oh, the poor thing. No wonder she's been acting so strangely."
"Strangely?" Squall echoed, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, Squall," Rinoa accused, "Sometimes I think the only thing you notice is yourself!"
Flushing at the implied criticism, Squall retorted, "Well, I have the wherewithal to notice that I'm laying in my bed nude with a beautiful woman!"
Squall leaned over and began to kiss Rinoa, gently at first and then more passionately as he thrust his tongue into her mouth while reaching down and removing her black shorts. Rinoa began to return his kisses in earnest while pulling him to her in a close embrace, while he grasped her underwear pulling it off as well.
As Squall and Rinoa continued to passionately kiss while twisting and turning the entire time on Squall's narrow bed, Squall managed to, with the touch of an expert, remove Rinoa's shirt and bra, leaving her only wearing her extremely short blue skirt. As Rinoa continued to hold Squall close to her, he felt her hardened nipples poking into his bare chest and she felt something hard stabbing her in the lower belly.
Suddenly breaking contact with Rinoa's mouth, Squall pulled himself up to his knees with his manhood sticking out in front of him and as he gazed down upon Rinoa's beautiful face, and her fulsome breasts and her extremely narrow waist above her beautiful brunette pubic haired vagina and her long exquisitely sculpted legs Squall realized once again why he allowed himself to be manipulated into every one of her harebrained schemes.
"You are so beautiful," Squall murmured while leaning over Rinoa.
"Oh, Squall! I love you so much!" Rinoa cried and drew him close again to her body.
Quistis, with Kazuya standing slightly behind her, knocked upon the door of Melissa Jenkins. Opening the door, Melissa stood stiffly recognizing Quistis and spoke flatly without a hint of emotion, "Quistis."
"I would like you to meet Kazuya" Quistis introduced, as he quickly stepped past her and into the room.
When Melissa spun around to angrily protest his uninvited intrusion into her room, Quistis followed him closing the door. While quickly bending over and removing her long brown boots, Quistis stood up and pulled off her brown gloves and long, detachable sleeves. While watching as Kazuya began to relieve the stunned Melissa of her long cotton nightgown, Quistis explained, "I like all my friends to become acquainted with each other" as she pulled the zipper down on her orange blouse allowing it to fall to the floor exposing her abundant breasts and then unfastened her long skirt and removed it leaving her standing totally nude.
Kazuya finished pulling Melissa's long nightgown over her head and completely off her body. Melissa stood with tears in her eyes, her long beautiful blonde hair falling to her shoulders, her copious breasts heaving with excitement and her blonde haired genital region opened in invitation as Kazuya removed his uniform shirt and trousers and, after kicking off his slippers, stood as naked as on the day he was born.
As Kazuya quickly stepped around behind Melissa gripping her by the waist with his two large hands and pulling her to him while kissing her gently with the touch of a velvet glove all down her back, Quistis stepped forward and began to passionately kiss Melissa again and again.
"Oh, Quistis" Melissa moaned with happiness.
As it was nearing midnight, Zell had finally reached a point of exhaustion where he thought he could immediately drop off to sleep. Just as he was stepping out of his red and blue striped boxer shorts in preparation of climbing into bed, he was amazed to observe his dormitory room door open and the pigtail girl step inside his room and close the door.
"Holy shit!" Zell expostulated while attempting to hide his genital area with his cupped hands. The pigtail girl stepped forward and pulled his hands away revealing his substantial erection.
Blushing furiously, Zell responded "What are you doing, Na-?"
"I promised you a surprise when you returned from Deiling City" the pigtail girl interrupted. And she proceeded to quickly remove her uniform blouse and skirt and then stripped off her bra and panties and stood stark naked in front of the astonished Zell.
"Oh Shiva" he moaned.
Taking Zell by the hand, the pigtail girl led Zell to the bed while saying, "I figured if I waited for you to make a move, I'd die a virgin."
"Oh Shiva" Zell moaned again. The pigtail girl giggled.
Selphie lay tossing and turning in her narrow bed for well over an hour, but was unable to find any solace in sleep from her feelings. In frustration she finally gave up and sat on the side of her bed. Glancing over in the dim light at the figure of Akane who was soundly sleeping in Rinoa's bed, Selphie thought "Just like that wanton Rinoa to run off and spend the night with Squall doing Hyne knows what perversion and leaving me this child to take care of."
Selphie had enough insight into herself to realize her current mean spiritedness was coming from feelings of immense disquietude, which she had been unable to fathom. She suddenly decided she needed to talk to someone about her feelings. Selphie arose from the side of the bed and crossed to her closet. She pulled out a robe and slipped it around her bare body making sure to conceal her private body parts by tying the sash tightly and then exited the room. Selphie had decided to search for Irvine and she strode with purpose in her bare feet down the women's corridor to the door that led to the men's dormitory.
Ellone also found herself unable to sleep and realizing that Laguna was known to be an inveterate insomniac himself, she decided to go and search for him. Dressing quietly so as to not awaken the female upper-classman that she was temporarily bunking with, she then let herself out of the room.
Ellone strode along the rotunda peering down the different corridors as she moved along, but only occasionally saw a random SeeD or upper-classman that was assigned midnight shift duty. Finally giving up in her hope of finding Laguna, she wandered down the halls aimlessly until she happened to find herself in front of Squall's room.
Wondering if he could possibly still be awake, she knocked gently upon the door. When she heard nothing from within the room, on a whim she attempted to turn the doorknob and was surprised to discover it unlocked. Stepping quietly into the room, Ellone was startled to observe the beautiful nude bodies of Squall and Rinoa sleeping intertwined with each other on Squall's bed.
"Well, he certainly has changed. A year ago he hadn't even kissed a girl," Ellone thought to herself while exiting the room, closing the door behind her and heading back to her room.
On the following morning, Akane was speaking to Irvine, Selphie and the pigtail girl at the cafeteria table, where they just had finished eating their breakfast. "My mother was taking care of me, when my papa was at the Garden. And then she suddenly died from Trabia Fever and he decided he needed to disappear to take care of me. I guess he felt he wouldn't be welcomed at the Garden with a four year old child but, seeing the way it is here, I think he was mistaken."
As Sephie nodded her head in agreement of what Akane was saying from across the table, Akane continued, "Something bad happened to papa when my mother died. He became cold and distant and was totally aloof from me, unless it involved his teaching me how to use magic or martial arts training. That's practically the only time I saw him after my mother died. Of course, he always hired me the best tutors, but I grew up alone. I had no friends...you all are the first friends I've ever had."
As the pigtail girl wiped some tears from her eyes, Selphie leaned across the table and offered Akane a big hug.
Always the one to be uncomfortable with any real emotion and realizing Akane was wearing a new upper-classman uniform, Irvine changed the subject by asking, "Where's your new outfit?"
Akane grinned across the table at him. "I retired that, Uncle Irvine."
"Aw, hell" thought Irvine.
"Where's Rinoa?" Akane asked. "She didn't come back to the room last night."
"Uh" Irvine stammered, hard pressed to arrive at an appropriate response, as Selphie maliciously grinned at him. "There she is now" Irvine exclaimed, immediately grateful for the serendipitous arrival of Rinoa in the cafeteria.
Rinoa, dressed only in her slinky, short, yellow dress and yellow high heels, strutted toward their table. "Hi Rinoa!" Akane shouted out. Rinoa responded lovingly, "Good morning, Akane. It's great to see you out and about."
Irvine questioned, "What's going on, Rinoa? Why are you all dressed up?"
"I have an appointment with Cid in a couple of minutes" she explained. "I just stopped by to say hi."
As Rinoa was leaving, she suggested, "Meet me in front of the elevators on the first floor in a few minutes. I should be free by then."
After Rinoa had exited the cafeteria, Selphie asked the pigtail girl "Where's Zell this morning?"
The pigtail girl giggled and explained, "Zell was up extremely late in bed last night."
"Oh Great Hyne!" Selphie thought, "Her too! - I must be the last holdout."
Selphie suddenly announced, "Guess what everybody? Irvine and I are getting married."
As the pigtail girl and Akane sat rooted in dumbfounded silence, Irvine protested, "Aw, Sefie. I just asked you to marry me. I didn't say when."
The pigtail girl finally managed to respond, "That's wonderful! Congratulations to the both of you."
Selphie answered, "Thank you uh - I'm sorry, what is your name again?"
The pigtail girl angrily blurted out "My name is Nabiki! I think it's a very pretty name. What's so difficult about remembering it?"
Selphie was completely taken aback and, before she could respond in any manner, Irvine, hoping to defuse the situation, suggested, "We need to leave, you all. They're waiting to clean our table."
When Nabiki, Selphie, Irvine and Akane were arriving in front of the first floor elevators, they noticed Squall, Ellone and Laguna ambling toward them.
Nabiki, stepping forward, spoke in an awe filled voice, "What a thrill this is to meet you, President Loire. My name is Nabiki," she continued, while holding out her right hand.
Laguna shook it and replied, "Honored, I'm sure, but please call me Laguna."
Glancing at the rest of the group, Laguna explained, while resting his right hand on Squall's shoulder, "I was just telling my son and Ellone that Galbadia has sued for peace. I have asked for no reparations - just that they vacate the territories they have overrun. They appear to be anxiously awaiting General Caraway's return to take over the reins of their government."
Squall commented with a slight grin, "They may have to wait a little while longer. I have a feeling he's a bit preoccupied."
Just then the elevator opened, and Rinoa came strutting down the staircase toward them. "Guess what, everybody?" she exclaimed. "Cid just made me an instructor! Isn't he just a sweetheart?"
"Oh Great Fiery Balls of Ifrit!" Selphie retorted.
The End?
Author's Afterword
Hey - it just occurred to me as I was proofing this chapter that this could be continued as a really goofy sequel - Rinoa and Squall hear wedding bells - Zell serves as the best man and naturally loses the ring - don't worry, Nabiki saves the day - Selphie as the maid of honor - Irvine hitting on all the bridesmaids - General Caraway flying in with his new bride Xu from Deiling (or is it Deling) City to give Rinoa away - (a real tear jerker) - Squall and Rinoa moving into a little house in Balamb with Akane in the spare bedroom - Akane doing all the typical teenage acting out behaviors which stretch Squall's patience to the breaking point - Akane's run-ins with Big Bad Rascal. And that's just the start. Stay tuned. I feel a sequel coming and it's rolling round the bend.
Now it's my turn - I know, I know, - you're thinking I already had my turn - all 90,000+ words of it. No, this is different. This is where I explain.
First off I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to review my fan fic; everyone except for 'A reader with taste' who saw fit to review me as a person (even though she/he/it knows nothing about me personally) and her/his/its wannabe Riana Z, who said that "a reader with taste' had already said everything she wanted to say. What'd she do - read the review and then my chapter?
Now - characters. The first review I got said I missed Squall's true character. Which true character might that be? The one who I've read all of the sudden doesn't know again if he loves Rinoa or not or the one who is in love with Quistis or the one who is in love with Zell (perish the thought). I've read a lot of fan fics in which Squall is more distant, angry and alone than at anytime in the game.
Hello people - remember the story from the game? Squall has come to terms with his childhood issues and has also been able to get in touch with his emotions and declare his love for Rinoa. Remember the final cinema shot? That was Squall SMILING. I very unsubtly had several people in my fan fic mention that Squall had changed. Therefore which Squall are we talking about when we say I didn't get his character right?
Squall was intelligent, caring, heroic and had a slight sense of humor. I was assuming he would have continued to grow some psychologically.
Now for the big one - Rinoa! I am not a Rinoa basher - I like Rinoa. Like is the key word. I like Rinoa. I don't love Rinoa. I don't worship Rinoa. I don't adore Rinoa. Just because she has those angel wings doesn't make her an angel - it's just a limit breaker. When I looked back through the story considering whether to cut out later some of the nude Rinoa scenes it struck me just how few words were used to write these scenes in comparison to 90,000+ words in the entire fan fic. I thought of counting all the words used in the nude scenes and then figuring out a percentage but then assumed that it would come across as too anal-retentive. And yet so many reviews made it sound as if there were hundreds of nude Rinoa scenes. Why? Quistis had a number of nude scnes and Selphie had even more - in fact I'm not sure if Selphie didn't have as many nude scenes as Rinoa and you didn't see anybody writing about too many Selphie nude scenes. Why?
Because most fans think Rinoa is special and doesn't deserve such treatment - I tended to write about her as a person and not a princess. Did you ever stop to think how Rinoa showed up in that yellow dress and manipulated Cid into sending three SeeDs out on an open ended contract for little or no money. Obviously I did. I see Rinoa as a very driven individual who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. She was certainly single minded enough when it came to pursuing Squall. She came on to Squall like gangbusters from the very first second she saw him - you know that - always touching and hugging and sitting in his lap. How long do you suppose it was after the closing cinema shot of the Garden floating away before Rinoa had Squall in bed. And - oops - this brings us to sex. I decided when I sat down to write this, they wouldn't be pristine cardboard characters from a video game, but young attractive people who lived in close quarters generally and lived in very close quarters when they were on a mission together. Despite their ages, these aren't high school kids - they have the life experience of your typical Navy Seal. If you were facing life and death every day, wouldn't you coop for a little nightly comfort with a sweet young thing like the female characters in this are? Or the male, whatever your case may be?
Now to Selphie - I made Selphie intelligent, capable, bossy and appearing as though she's slightly jealous of Rinoa, but in actuality she is just sexually repressed and Rinoa's behavior keeps breaking through Selphie's denial system causing her to feel uncomfortable and she takes it out on Rinoa. I got this characterization of Selphie from the story in the game, i.e. when Irvine first attempts to put his move on her on the train - she overreacts like crazy - jumping up and down and yelling no, no, and from her comment to Rinoa at the flower field, when Rinoa asks Selphie about her and Irvine, and she says no - she just likes to hang with close friends and her total lack of understanding involving Irvine's motivation for helping her set up the concert. So of course since she's repressed sexually, she is also preoccupied with it and keeps being drawn to it in all facets of her relationships - even to the point of not being able to look at a nude person of the same sex.
Irvine - one reviewer accused Irvine of being a rapist. I'm sorry - whose story were they reading? Did any of you out there read that I had Irvine attempting to rape somebody. Yes - Irvine is a pervert and yes - he likes to look. Wouldn't you if you could get away with it? But rape? - hardly. Irvine's theory is if he can get them stripped down, then they'll naturally succumb to his fatal good looks and charm. And come on already - did he rape Usagi - the downstairs maid - yes, it was Sailor Moon on her day job. Good thing 'a reader with taste' didn't read that far or they really would have some ammo to blast me with - I knew who Sailor Moon was. Did Irvine rape Trepie #2? Of course not. And he would have scored if it weren't for Selphie's untimely interruption. And by the way, how many nude Irvine scenes, were there? Nobody apparently got tired of them. And, granted he was slimy, but he didn't rape Akane, he just cannily manipulated her into his bed. And if I'm not mistaken the rest of the review made a reference about how unlikely it would be that Selphie would keep taking him back. Oh yeah, that's right - I forgot - women never take men back who have cheated on them in real life - do they?
Next the person who I thought would be the most controversial - Quistis. And I haven't heard a peep of complaint. Quistis is not gay or even bi-sexual. She is just sexually acting out because of her horrible experiences in the D-District Prison. I did make a couple of references to this and maybe people caught it or maybe they liked thinking Quistis as bi-sexual - I don't know. Now Melissa Jenkins is gay and she and Quistis have known each other since they were ten years old, so probably at that early age through say eleven or twelve they did some experimenting, but Quistis outgrew it - Melissa never did. So no one knew but me how slimy and manipulative Melissa was being when she saw Quistis in a vulnerable position following her experiences in the prison (I never want to write D-District again) and seduced her. No doubt, as you're reading this, Xu or the doctor have already straightened Quistis out concerning her love life and she's straight as an arrow again. By the way, when I was writing this (and I don't know if it's been done before) I had a terrific idea for a fan fic about when Quistis became a SeeD at the age of fifteen, which would make Squall, Seifer and Zell fourteen and on her first mission as a SeeD - you could probably also have a younger Xu as an older SeeD just before her promotion. But I'm not interested in doing this, because I have enough to do right now - I'm involved in two co-writing assignments with another one waiting in the wings. So if you like the idea, go ahead and steal it.
Zell - what to say about Zell that hasn't already been said. He blushes a lot, is shy around women, likes to wipe his hand off on his shorts before he shakes hands and he kicks ass.
Now for something more complicated - Akane and Rinoa. Akane had a love/hate relationship with Rinoa right from the beginning and it had nothing to do with her assignment. Of course she consciously viewed Rinoa as someone from whom she could milk information, but subconsciously she found herself strangely drawn to Rinoa. Once you know the extent of Akane's childhood background it's no longer a mystery. Akane's mother died when Akane was an extremely young age and was raised by a cold and aloof father who she adored but felt no connection to emotionally. Akane's subconscious immediately began transference with Rinoa, a slightly older, much more wordly female mother figure, but consciously Akane would tell herself that Rinoa stood for everything she hated and she would not only pull back, she would act in a manner that would bring harm to Rinoa, i.e. hesitating to attack while on the beach at Centra or manipulating Rinoa to show herself to Nida in the clinic (Not another nude Rinoa scene that has nothing to do with the plot!). But after having deliberately done something spiteful to Rinoa to drive her away, Akane felt strangely drawn to beg for forgiveness, (and it had nothing to do with her mission) because her subconscious would not allow her to drive her mother figure away.
Now on to the disciplinary room - I am going to rewrite that and make it less sensational and more reality based - but it will still be a good cat fight. Regression is a form of Schizophrenia and they often have to put large diapers on people - that's what I going to do with Akane in the new scene. Boy, that calls up a picture in your mind, doesn't it? Akane in a large diaper? And they've had some success with treating the patient as if they were literally a baby and gave them bottles and rocked them and tucked them into giant cribs and literally raised them from an infant back to being an adult. Of course Akane's schizophrenia is not bio-chemically based but situational - in other words she found failure to be so unacceptable that she mentally retreated to an infantile state - again her subconscious was responsible. It was not a conscious decision on her part.
Well, there you have it - do you still think it was just a mindless romp through the world of Final Fantasy 8 - yeah, probably. If you read all this, thanks a lot again.
RobertDogwood