"Remind why I'm doing this again."
"Because--! Because you're my friend, and friends are supposed to help each other in time of need!"
"Riiiight," Lina muttered darkly, shoving another heavy box of assorted manga under the table and making sure the tablecloth successfully concealed. "Then tell me why you're doing this again."
"Oh, come on. I told you-my boss really needed me to work today, and the more the merrier. 'Sides, you get to come to a con for free, so stop complaining."
"Without seeing it. We're 'working,' remember?" Lina collapsed into a chair. "I can't believe it's five in the morning on a Saturday and I'm up and working! How much longer are we going to be setting up, anyway?"
Filia gestured towards the seemingly endless piles still full of manga and other anime knick-knacks waiting to be unloaded onto the three empty tables in front of them. "Until this is all gone. Now hurry up. Dealer's hall opens at nine."
"Ch'." Lina heaved another box onto the table. She grabbed a handful of volumes and continued to sort through the titles. Fruits Basket in the Fruits Basket pile. A couple of volumes of Inu Yasha, but one since there was already a volume fifteen out on the table, she put the extras back into the box. "Where's the DNAngel pile?"
"Over here." Lina handed Filia the books before continuing to dig through the books.
"Hey, I didn't know X 18 was out."
"Just came out a couple of weeks ago. These are straight from Japan, my friend."
Lina made a mental note to buy it as soon as this day was done. Maybe she could ask Xellos for a discount.
After what seemed like forever, all the necessary goods were shoved under the tablecloth and the tables were covered with piles of books, futilely organized by series chaotically mish mashed together just so they would fit. Lina cringed at the thought of how they were going to organize all of this.
"Okay," Filia huffed, looking at the mess before her, "we have to organize them by title and put them in these bins."
Lina knew there was a good reason she was cringing. "You're kidding."
"No. And since I'm not all that great with kanji, you gotta help me." Looks like she really wasn't kidding.
After what seemed like forever (which in actuality had only been a few hours) the girls slammed the last of the bins heavy with manga organized by authors and arranged them on the tabletop. Off to the very end the set up all the special manga especially ordered for this Con. To the other side was a blank space.
"What do we put here?" Filia asked desperately.
Lina shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. You're the one in charge."
"Fine!" Filia snapped. "Get out all the plushies and the random stuff and start arranging them here."
"All right, all right. Sheesh." Lina brought the box over and started to pull out all the things and arrange them on the table when she was interrupted by a very annoyed Filia.
"No, no!" the blonde snapped impatiently. "If you keep arranging them like that we're not going to have room for everything. Oh, here. Let me do it," she said, shoving Lina out of the way.
Lina tried not to let it show that she was hurt. "All right." Geez, this girl was a bitch when angry.
The atmosphere was tense for a while after that. It broke only when the woman in the Official jacket call out: "Attention: the Dealer's Hall is now open for business!" and the excitement of the vendors getting last minutes preparations ready and the anticipation of the very first people waiting in line to get into the dealer's hall overrode any personal feelings.
Their spot was choice. Right by the door, they were practically the first ones that people coming in saw, and therefore the first one they stopped by. Lina manned the far end of the table while Filia stood by the cash register, helping people pick manga titles, exchanging friendly banter with fellow fans and generally sitting around and trying to convince people why they should part with their precious hard-earned ten bucks to see two guys snogging.among other things.
The hours wore on, and eventually lunch hour came and went. But they were still scheduled to be there for another four hours or so. Lina popped another Nilla wafer into her mouth before looking once more in the nearly empty dealer's hall.
Well, she definitely had enough of sitting. She got up and stretched. "Filia, I'm going to take a look around."
"What? Lina, you can't leave me here!"
"Ch'. There's barely anyone in here anymore, and I want to go shopping," she said, digging into her purse for her wallet.
"But-but Xellos sad we're supposed to be watching the booth!"
"Well, I'm free labor, and I'm not in love with my non-employer so do I feel compelled to stay in the face of buying anime shit? Hell. No."
Realizing she was fighting a losing argument, Filia just said nervously, "Well, hurry back." But Lina had already slipped around the side of the tables out to the hall.
It was a small con, and it showed in the fact that the number of vendors was few and the rarity of the items was even less. It was starting to prove a disappointing con. But she nevertheless looked at all the merchandise carefully, at all the stuff she had wanted once upon a time but had eventually gotten over, and taking pictures of good cosplayers. Yeah. That Gackt was the coolest.
Finally, Lina approached a table covered in artbooks, and her eye spied that E's artbook she had been looking for. It wasn't a bargain deal, but it wasn't a rip-off either. Lina decided to go for it. While the vendor got her order, Lina dug around in her purse for her wallet, but the damn thing was doing its best to blend in with all her other crap. The man was getting impatient, and Lina was getting frustrated; she angrily shoved her random crap around until she finally felt the soft, leathery familiarity which she pulled out with flourish.
Perhaps too much flourish. In her haste, her elbow knocked against someone's shoulder who happened to walk by at that moment. Lina spared that person a quick glance over her shoulder with an automatic "Sorry" before turning back to finish her purchase, much to the vendor's relief. But as soon as Lina's money left her hand, the rest of her brain caught up with her. Quickly, she spun around again to make sure her eyes weren't mistaken, but the apparition was gone.
Lina's heart sank in disappointment. She almost didn't hear when the vendor was giving her the artbook which she took but with less fervor than she had going into buying it. She walked in a kind of daze as her body started to settle the erratic breathing she wasn't even aware had changed. She never felt this way before. A glance, a gaze, was that really all it took?
He was tall. He would have to be if he was cosplaying Squall. His broad shoulders, from what she could see, wore the jacket naturally. Yes, he definitely had the body for those leather pants, all right. And the way those belts had hung seductively across his hips.Lina shuddered. What the hell was wrong with her, anyway? She never thought in these terms! This was beneath her!
Oh, come off of it, you prude, her mind taunted back at her, you never let me have any fun anyway. So her mind lived in excruciating detail the most gorgeous albeit brief sight she had ever seen.
She didn't get a good look at his face, but his hair.Lina's face got a goofy grin on it. His hair had looked really soft, the way it swayed gently as he walked, the way it picked up the dull lighting. She couldn't tell if it was more lavender tinted or silvery.
So caught up in her daydreams, Lina didn't even notice that she had come back to the table where Filia stood waiting impatiently. Indeed, the blonde girl had expected Lina back fifteen minutes ago and swore in each of those intervening minutes that Lina would get a piece of her mind when she got back. But at seeing the utterly alien expression on her friend's, she let it drop in exchange for curiosity. Was it.dreamy? Lina Inverse never looks dreamy. What the hell happened?
But before she could even open her mouth to ask, the redhead's eyes suddenly snapped back into focus and Filia found herself on the receiving end of a very painful choke-hold. "Did you see him?" Lina demanded.
"S-see who?"
"The Squall! That gorgeous Squall! Oh, please say you got a picture of him for me!"
Filia blinked. Squall? "What Squall?"
She instantly regretted those seemingly innocent words. It looked like she just ran over Lina's puppy, if she had a puppy, that is. "You didn't, then?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Cripes, Filia. You should know automatically that a hot guy cosplaying as Final Fantasy means instant pics for Lina."
"Sorry, I didn't even see him."
Lina sighed. "That's all right." He was, after all, just a face in the crowd. But still.a small part of her couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe he would come back later. She didn't have time to dwell on that, though. The pace started to pick up again as con goers came back from lunch.
In fact, she settled back into the lull of routine pretty quickly. Naturally Filia wouldn't let Lina sit down until she showed her what she bought, and they both spent the times between customers comparing the similarities between the finer points of X and E's.
"I mean, what's the diff, Lina?" Filia said, as soon as she handed the last customer their bag of purchases and superficially thanked them cheerily. "Psychic powers, bishounen angst, lots of blood."
"Well, for one thing, Kotori is not nearly as annoying as Asuka is," Lina huffed. "And there's more intrigue, and not to mention Kai-"
"Kamui."
"Kai isn't nearly as fucked up as Kamui is."
"Could've fooled me."
"Hey, you haven't even read the series, so you can't-oh, my God. Filia! Get your camera!"
"What? Why?"
Lina nearly decked her friend for her obvious blindedness. "It's him! He's back! Quick," she cried desperately, reaching for Filia's camera, "I need to take his picture."
"Oh, no, you don't," Filia retorted, holding it out of reach. "You already had a break. It's my turn. And besides, I want to get a look at this guy."
"Filia!"
The blonde girl smirked. "Don't worry, Lina-chan, I'll be right back." And with that, she stepped out around the table and made a beeline across the room for "Squall" while Lina stewed behind the cash register, cursing every dead brain cell in her head for making her forget to bring her own camera. Even while making sales, Lina watched Filia out of the corner of her eye: Filia making the obligatory plea for a picture, the cosplayer posing, the bright flash of the camera.the conversation between the two? Now that was definitely not part of the mandatory cosplayer- photographer relationship. Surely that meant they struck it off well? Lina wanted to scream and tear out her hair. Customers be damned, she wanted to fly across the room and strangle Filia until she told her what they were talking about.
The conversation eventually ended, and Filia took her sweet time coming back. Lina was about ready to burst with impatience. "Do you know him?" she demanded the instant Filia was within range.
"Yeah," Filia said smugly, taking extra long with putting her camera away knowing that Lina's eyes were practically trying to bore holes into her skull for more information.
"Well?"
"Hm?"
"Filia!"
Much to Lina's annoyance, Filia laughed delightedly before taking pity on her. "His name is Zelgadis Graywords. I worked with him once over the summer when I was working at Lee's" referring to the local comic shop Filia usually worked over breaks.
Assured, Lina returned her gaze back across the room and a sigh unwittingly passed through her lips before she could stop it. Filia gasped. "I don't believe it! Is Lina Inverse actually chasing a guy?"
Lina's cheeks flushed furiously but even she knew it was a moot point to try to deny it. "And why not? He's gorgeous."
Filia looked over appraisingly at Zelgadis. "You think so, huh?" She seemed to be mulling a thought over. Then she sighed. "In that case, you're going to be disappointed with his girlfriend."
"His.?" Of course. And somehow, Lina wasn't really surprised. It made sense, after all. How could someone that good-looking not? That would be weird. "I mean, I guess that's better than him being here.you know.."
"Oh, no no no. He's here with her."
"That's nice of him," Lina weakly managed.
"Mm-hmm. Apparently they've been together forever."
Lina sighed. Once upon a time she might have stood a chance, she thought wistfully. "It's always the good ones."
Filia gave her a sympathetic smile. "Oh, cheer up, Lina. Usually it's the guys who chase after you. Today you chased after a guy. Someday, the guy you happen to chase will have to be chasing you."
"Whatever." Dejectedly, she turned back to work. She felt weirdly dull. But that was ridiculous. She didn't even know the guy. She never knew lust worked this way.
Whether from sympathy or what not, Filia was considerably easier on Lina when they started working again, even offering to take over while if the redhead should want to go shopping. But Lina didn't really care to anymore. She didn't really have the energy for it.
It was a good thing she didn't, however, as eventually who should come up to their table to browse but none other than the unbeknownst topic of discussion, Zelgadis Graywords himself. Filia gave, as she gave all customers, a sunny smile. "Hey, Zelgadis."
"Hey, Filia." Lina, suddenly finding a need to straighten out some of the manga off to his side, nearly dropped the books she was holding at his voice. She cursed in her head; she'd probably be hearing that voice in every whisper of the wind from now on. Damn herself for being so damn sappy!
Completely oblivious to the turmoil going on right beside him, Zelgadis paid the redhead no mind. Instead he continued to browse through the table and talk congenially with Filia. "So, this is where you're working while you're in school?"
"Yup. I can't seem to stay away from anime."
Zelgadis smiled, and Lina felt her knees go weak. Danger, Will Robinson! Quickly she looked down, away from his face, to the table and noticed his gloved hand. His fingers were surprisingly slender.
"So it seems," he was saying. "How's the pay?"
"Let's just put it this way, the fact that I'm perpetually broke should say something."
"That and the fact that you always blow nearly all your paycheck back on all this useless crap," Lina said before she even knew her mouth was moving. She froze up. Oh, my god. I just said something stupid and sarcastic and mean in front of him and even though I was saying it to my friend he heard and why do I always butt in and why can't I keep my big mouth shut???
Zelgadis laughed, and Lina was somewhat surprised to find he had such a pleasant laugh. "Still the same as ever, I see," he chuckled in Filia's direction. Then, finally noticing her for the first time, he smiled in Lina's direction and offered that very hand which had been under Lina's observation. "Hi, I'm Zelgadis."
"I-" vaguely she thought that it would be a bad time to forget her own name "I'm Lina." She hoped she didn't look as awkward as she felt with these intros. They always seemed so forced to her.
"Lina's a friend of mine from school," Filia supplied helpfully. "She's helping me out today."
"Ah," Zelgadis said in understanding. "Then you must really like anime a lot to be working for free. Xellos' reputation precedes him."
"Yeah, well, free con," she said lamely. Her mind grasped desperately for conversation lest the lull be uncomfortable. "I like your costume," she blurted. Mentally she smacked herself in the head. Minus five points for lameness.
He didn't seem to mind. "Thanks," he said congenially. "It took a while to put together. I used to have a Gunblade, but that kinda went to hell."
"Really?" Lina asked, wishing he did have it. "What happened to it?"
"My girlfriend sat on it."
Lina felt a twinge of disappointment. "Oh. That's too bad. It would've been so cool."
"So I take it Amelia is Rinoa then?" Filia asked.
"Not exactly. She's here as Miaka."
"Miaka? From Fushigi Yuugi?"
"Yeah," he shrugged. "She figured most of the cosplayers here would be the Suzaku senshi or something. She's right though. She's picked up a Nuriko and a Hotohori. I think she's trying to make an entire group."
"Then," Lina ventured, "shouldn't you be Tamahome?" (AN: he already is! Ha!)
Zelgadis pulled a face. "I promised her I'd cosplay, but there was no way in hell I was dressing up as that pansy."
In spite of herself, Lina snorted in laughter. "Well, Squall is definitely cooler. Gunblade or no, he can kick Tamahome's ass any day."
Zelgadis returned her grin. "I think so, too. I've always been more of a gamer anyway."
"Oh, really? Hey, did you hear that they're making a sequel to Final Fantasy X?"
Zelgadis' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No, actually," he said, intrigued. "When did this happen?"
"They released the promo sketches of it at the Japan Gamers Con. I saw the screenshots online."
"That's exciting. This would be the first Final Fantasy sequel ever."
"I know! And I really liked ten, too."
"Yeah! So did I."
"What'd you think about the ending?"
"Oh, god.that ending. It.didn't really make any sense."
"I know! And I was sooo upset what they did with Tidus. I mean, you play all that time-only to get that?"
Zelgadis laughed again. "Thirty hours of your life you'll never get back."
"I know!" she exclaimed, also laughing.
But the pleasant conversation was cut abruptly short when Zelgadis' wristwatch beeped. Checking the time, he frowned. Amelia would be coming out of her panel soon. "And I haven't gotten anything for her yet," he muttered under his breath. Quickly, he returned to scanning the table. "Hey, Filia. Give me the Saiyuki phone strap."
Filia quickly moved to oblige, retrieving the requested item from under the plastic covering on the table, and handing it to Lina to ring up. "Anything else? Nothing for you?"
"Oh, yeah. Do you have Hikaru no Go nineteen?"
Filia nodded and went got the item, adding it to his total purchases. "Is that it?"
"Yeah," he said, reaching for his wallet.
Lina hurried to tally up the total, feeling slightly disappointed about the Saiyuki phone strap (she had wanted one herself), and quoted his total. After taking his money, she handed him his change (discreetly taking the time to let her fingers linger for a brief moment on his), bagged his purchases with receipt in the bag, and wish him a nice day. He smiled and thanked her as he took the bag from her.
And then he was gone.
Just like that.
Lina collapsed in her chair. Well, at least that was over with. It was fun while it lasted, this behavior so unlike her. She indulged in this sort of thing so rarely, she might as well 'fess up and admit it was kind of fun acting like a love-struck teenager again, considering she had practically deprived herself of it when she was an actual teen. He would meet up with his girlfriend and they would continue living their way and she would never see him again. Out of sight, out of mind.
"You okay, Lina?"
"Hm? Of course."
"Jus.making sure."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The physical labor from the wee hours of the morning caught up with them by then and by the time Lina climbed into the truck to drive home, she could do little more than lean back and close her eyes and listen to the radio and feel the not quite unpleasant pain radiate throughout her body. They didn't do as well as they hoped, but it hadn't been a total waste either. This day would be lost as one of the more unmemorable ones they've had, and life would go on. Xellos would tabulate the earnings and probably just shrug his shoulders and go on. Just like Filia would soon pass this off as just another one of the many parts of the job description and eventually forget about the horrendous little details that vaguely came more as a feeling than an actual memory about her part time during college. And Lina would go home tonight and unwind and then look over some hideous economics problems and wonder for the umpteenth time why she bothered signing up for a class she obviously was going to have a total disregard for the norms of anyway.
At least that was the plan, and a pretty mundane plan at best, Lina thought dully as she waved goodbye to Filia and opened the front gate to her apartment complex, but one that had to be done at any rate. There were, after all, so many things to get done, and life didn't stop for anything. It went on and on and on..
Stopping only to retrieve her mail, Lina didn't stop thinking these depressing thoughts for one instant, relying instead on her feet's instincts to carry her to the narrow staircase leading to the second floor. Which is why she really didn't catch herself from running into the figure descending said stairs at that exact moment and ended up in a graceless pile on the floor, mail and keys and limbs scattered every which way.
"Oh, Jeezus, sorry!" she heard as she started to pick herself up. Immediately, she set about to gather her mail and look for those damn keys that probably flew ten feet and looked up to yell at this offender (never mind she was the one not looking) when her eyes and brain once again had agreement and Lina's mouth dropped open.
"YOU!"
And then again, sometimes even the most mundane days were really life's way of kicking you in the pants.
"Because--! Because you're my friend, and friends are supposed to help each other in time of need!"
"Riiiight," Lina muttered darkly, shoving another heavy box of assorted manga under the table and making sure the tablecloth successfully concealed. "Then tell me why you're doing this again."
"Oh, come on. I told you-my boss really needed me to work today, and the more the merrier. 'Sides, you get to come to a con for free, so stop complaining."
"Without seeing it. We're 'working,' remember?" Lina collapsed into a chair. "I can't believe it's five in the morning on a Saturday and I'm up and working! How much longer are we going to be setting up, anyway?"
Filia gestured towards the seemingly endless piles still full of manga and other anime knick-knacks waiting to be unloaded onto the three empty tables in front of them. "Until this is all gone. Now hurry up. Dealer's hall opens at nine."
"Ch'." Lina heaved another box onto the table. She grabbed a handful of volumes and continued to sort through the titles. Fruits Basket in the Fruits Basket pile. A couple of volumes of Inu Yasha, but one since there was already a volume fifteen out on the table, she put the extras back into the box. "Where's the DNAngel pile?"
"Over here." Lina handed Filia the books before continuing to dig through the books.
"Hey, I didn't know X 18 was out."
"Just came out a couple of weeks ago. These are straight from Japan, my friend."
Lina made a mental note to buy it as soon as this day was done. Maybe she could ask Xellos for a discount.
After what seemed like forever, all the necessary goods were shoved under the tablecloth and the tables were covered with piles of books, futilely organized by series chaotically mish mashed together just so they would fit. Lina cringed at the thought of how they were going to organize all of this.
"Okay," Filia huffed, looking at the mess before her, "we have to organize them by title and put them in these bins."
Lina knew there was a good reason she was cringing. "You're kidding."
"No. And since I'm not all that great with kanji, you gotta help me." Looks like she really wasn't kidding.
After what seemed like forever (which in actuality had only been a few hours) the girls slammed the last of the bins heavy with manga organized by authors and arranged them on the tabletop. Off to the very end the set up all the special manga especially ordered for this Con. To the other side was a blank space.
"What do we put here?" Filia asked desperately.
Lina shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. You're the one in charge."
"Fine!" Filia snapped. "Get out all the plushies and the random stuff and start arranging them here."
"All right, all right. Sheesh." Lina brought the box over and started to pull out all the things and arrange them on the table when she was interrupted by a very annoyed Filia.
"No, no!" the blonde snapped impatiently. "If you keep arranging them like that we're not going to have room for everything. Oh, here. Let me do it," she said, shoving Lina out of the way.
Lina tried not to let it show that she was hurt. "All right." Geez, this girl was a bitch when angry.
The atmosphere was tense for a while after that. It broke only when the woman in the Official jacket call out: "Attention: the Dealer's Hall is now open for business!" and the excitement of the vendors getting last minutes preparations ready and the anticipation of the very first people waiting in line to get into the dealer's hall overrode any personal feelings.
Their spot was choice. Right by the door, they were practically the first ones that people coming in saw, and therefore the first one they stopped by. Lina manned the far end of the table while Filia stood by the cash register, helping people pick manga titles, exchanging friendly banter with fellow fans and generally sitting around and trying to convince people why they should part with their precious hard-earned ten bucks to see two guys snogging.among other things.
The hours wore on, and eventually lunch hour came and went. But they were still scheduled to be there for another four hours or so. Lina popped another Nilla wafer into her mouth before looking once more in the nearly empty dealer's hall.
Well, she definitely had enough of sitting. She got up and stretched. "Filia, I'm going to take a look around."
"What? Lina, you can't leave me here!"
"Ch'. There's barely anyone in here anymore, and I want to go shopping," she said, digging into her purse for her wallet.
"But-but Xellos sad we're supposed to be watching the booth!"
"Well, I'm free labor, and I'm not in love with my non-employer so do I feel compelled to stay in the face of buying anime shit? Hell. No."
Realizing she was fighting a losing argument, Filia just said nervously, "Well, hurry back." But Lina had already slipped around the side of the tables out to the hall.
It was a small con, and it showed in the fact that the number of vendors was few and the rarity of the items was even less. It was starting to prove a disappointing con. But she nevertheless looked at all the merchandise carefully, at all the stuff she had wanted once upon a time but had eventually gotten over, and taking pictures of good cosplayers. Yeah. That Gackt was the coolest.
Finally, Lina approached a table covered in artbooks, and her eye spied that E's artbook she had been looking for. It wasn't a bargain deal, but it wasn't a rip-off either. Lina decided to go for it. While the vendor got her order, Lina dug around in her purse for her wallet, but the damn thing was doing its best to blend in with all her other crap. The man was getting impatient, and Lina was getting frustrated; she angrily shoved her random crap around until she finally felt the soft, leathery familiarity which she pulled out with flourish.
Perhaps too much flourish. In her haste, her elbow knocked against someone's shoulder who happened to walk by at that moment. Lina spared that person a quick glance over her shoulder with an automatic "Sorry" before turning back to finish her purchase, much to the vendor's relief. But as soon as Lina's money left her hand, the rest of her brain caught up with her. Quickly, she spun around again to make sure her eyes weren't mistaken, but the apparition was gone.
Lina's heart sank in disappointment. She almost didn't hear when the vendor was giving her the artbook which she took but with less fervor than she had going into buying it. She walked in a kind of daze as her body started to settle the erratic breathing she wasn't even aware had changed. She never felt this way before. A glance, a gaze, was that really all it took?
He was tall. He would have to be if he was cosplaying Squall. His broad shoulders, from what she could see, wore the jacket naturally. Yes, he definitely had the body for those leather pants, all right. And the way those belts had hung seductively across his hips.Lina shuddered. What the hell was wrong with her, anyway? She never thought in these terms! This was beneath her!
Oh, come off of it, you prude, her mind taunted back at her, you never let me have any fun anyway. So her mind lived in excruciating detail the most gorgeous albeit brief sight she had ever seen.
She didn't get a good look at his face, but his hair.Lina's face got a goofy grin on it. His hair had looked really soft, the way it swayed gently as he walked, the way it picked up the dull lighting. She couldn't tell if it was more lavender tinted or silvery.
So caught up in her daydreams, Lina didn't even notice that she had come back to the table where Filia stood waiting impatiently. Indeed, the blonde girl had expected Lina back fifteen minutes ago and swore in each of those intervening minutes that Lina would get a piece of her mind when she got back. But at seeing the utterly alien expression on her friend's, she let it drop in exchange for curiosity. Was it.dreamy? Lina Inverse never looks dreamy. What the hell happened?
But before she could even open her mouth to ask, the redhead's eyes suddenly snapped back into focus and Filia found herself on the receiving end of a very painful choke-hold. "Did you see him?" Lina demanded.
"S-see who?"
"The Squall! That gorgeous Squall! Oh, please say you got a picture of him for me!"
Filia blinked. Squall? "What Squall?"
She instantly regretted those seemingly innocent words. It looked like she just ran over Lina's puppy, if she had a puppy, that is. "You didn't, then?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Cripes, Filia. You should know automatically that a hot guy cosplaying as Final Fantasy means instant pics for Lina."
"Sorry, I didn't even see him."
Lina sighed. "That's all right." He was, after all, just a face in the crowd. But still.a small part of her couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe he would come back later. She didn't have time to dwell on that, though. The pace started to pick up again as con goers came back from lunch.
In fact, she settled back into the lull of routine pretty quickly. Naturally Filia wouldn't let Lina sit down until she showed her what she bought, and they both spent the times between customers comparing the similarities between the finer points of X and E's.
"I mean, what's the diff, Lina?" Filia said, as soon as she handed the last customer their bag of purchases and superficially thanked them cheerily. "Psychic powers, bishounen angst, lots of blood."
"Well, for one thing, Kotori is not nearly as annoying as Asuka is," Lina huffed. "And there's more intrigue, and not to mention Kai-"
"Kamui."
"Kai isn't nearly as fucked up as Kamui is."
"Could've fooled me."
"Hey, you haven't even read the series, so you can't-oh, my God. Filia! Get your camera!"
"What? Why?"
Lina nearly decked her friend for her obvious blindedness. "It's him! He's back! Quick," she cried desperately, reaching for Filia's camera, "I need to take his picture."
"Oh, no, you don't," Filia retorted, holding it out of reach. "You already had a break. It's my turn. And besides, I want to get a look at this guy."
"Filia!"
The blonde girl smirked. "Don't worry, Lina-chan, I'll be right back." And with that, she stepped out around the table and made a beeline across the room for "Squall" while Lina stewed behind the cash register, cursing every dead brain cell in her head for making her forget to bring her own camera. Even while making sales, Lina watched Filia out of the corner of her eye: Filia making the obligatory plea for a picture, the cosplayer posing, the bright flash of the camera.the conversation between the two? Now that was definitely not part of the mandatory cosplayer- photographer relationship. Surely that meant they struck it off well? Lina wanted to scream and tear out her hair. Customers be damned, she wanted to fly across the room and strangle Filia until she told her what they were talking about.
The conversation eventually ended, and Filia took her sweet time coming back. Lina was about ready to burst with impatience. "Do you know him?" she demanded the instant Filia was within range.
"Yeah," Filia said smugly, taking extra long with putting her camera away knowing that Lina's eyes were practically trying to bore holes into her skull for more information.
"Well?"
"Hm?"
"Filia!"
Much to Lina's annoyance, Filia laughed delightedly before taking pity on her. "His name is Zelgadis Graywords. I worked with him once over the summer when I was working at Lee's" referring to the local comic shop Filia usually worked over breaks.
Assured, Lina returned her gaze back across the room and a sigh unwittingly passed through her lips before she could stop it. Filia gasped. "I don't believe it! Is Lina Inverse actually chasing a guy?"
Lina's cheeks flushed furiously but even she knew it was a moot point to try to deny it. "And why not? He's gorgeous."
Filia looked over appraisingly at Zelgadis. "You think so, huh?" She seemed to be mulling a thought over. Then she sighed. "In that case, you're going to be disappointed with his girlfriend."
"His.?" Of course. And somehow, Lina wasn't really surprised. It made sense, after all. How could someone that good-looking not? That would be weird. "I mean, I guess that's better than him being here.you know.."
"Oh, no no no. He's here with her."
"That's nice of him," Lina weakly managed.
"Mm-hmm. Apparently they've been together forever."
Lina sighed. Once upon a time she might have stood a chance, she thought wistfully. "It's always the good ones."
Filia gave her a sympathetic smile. "Oh, cheer up, Lina. Usually it's the guys who chase after you. Today you chased after a guy. Someday, the guy you happen to chase will have to be chasing you."
"Whatever." Dejectedly, she turned back to work. She felt weirdly dull. But that was ridiculous. She didn't even know the guy. She never knew lust worked this way.
Whether from sympathy or what not, Filia was considerably easier on Lina when they started working again, even offering to take over while if the redhead should want to go shopping. But Lina didn't really care to anymore. She didn't really have the energy for it.
It was a good thing she didn't, however, as eventually who should come up to their table to browse but none other than the unbeknownst topic of discussion, Zelgadis Graywords himself. Filia gave, as she gave all customers, a sunny smile. "Hey, Zelgadis."
"Hey, Filia." Lina, suddenly finding a need to straighten out some of the manga off to his side, nearly dropped the books she was holding at his voice. She cursed in her head; she'd probably be hearing that voice in every whisper of the wind from now on. Damn herself for being so damn sappy!
Completely oblivious to the turmoil going on right beside him, Zelgadis paid the redhead no mind. Instead he continued to browse through the table and talk congenially with Filia. "So, this is where you're working while you're in school?"
"Yup. I can't seem to stay away from anime."
Zelgadis smiled, and Lina felt her knees go weak. Danger, Will Robinson! Quickly she looked down, away from his face, to the table and noticed his gloved hand. His fingers were surprisingly slender.
"So it seems," he was saying. "How's the pay?"
"Let's just put it this way, the fact that I'm perpetually broke should say something."
"That and the fact that you always blow nearly all your paycheck back on all this useless crap," Lina said before she even knew her mouth was moving. She froze up. Oh, my god. I just said something stupid and sarcastic and mean in front of him and even though I was saying it to my friend he heard and why do I always butt in and why can't I keep my big mouth shut???
Zelgadis laughed, and Lina was somewhat surprised to find he had such a pleasant laugh. "Still the same as ever, I see," he chuckled in Filia's direction. Then, finally noticing her for the first time, he smiled in Lina's direction and offered that very hand which had been under Lina's observation. "Hi, I'm Zelgadis."
"I-" vaguely she thought that it would be a bad time to forget her own name "I'm Lina." She hoped she didn't look as awkward as she felt with these intros. They always seemed so forced to her.
"Lina's a friend of mine from school," Filia supplied helpfully. "She's helping me out today."
"Ah," Zelgadis said in understanding. "Then you must really like anime a lot to be working for free. Xellos' reputation precedes him."
"Yeah, well, free con," she said lamely. Her mind grasped desperately for conversation lest the lull be uncomfortable. "I like your costume," she blurted. Mentally she smacked herself in the head. Minus five points for lameness.
He didn't seem to mind. "Thanks," he said congenially. "It took a while to put together. I used to have a Gunblade, but that kinda went to hell."
"Really?" Lina asked, wishing he did have it. "What happened to it?"
"My girlfriend sat on it."
Lina felt a twinge of disappointment. "Oh. That's too bad. It would've been so cool."
"So I take it Amelia is Rinoa then?" Filia asked.
"Not exactly. She's here as Miaka."
"Miaka? From Fushigi Yuugi?"
"Yeah," he shrugged. "She figured most of the cosplayers here would be the Suzaku senshi or something. She's right though. She's picked up a Nuriko and a Hotohori. I think she's trying to make an entire group."
"Then," Lina ventured, "shouldn't you be Tamahome?" (AN: he already is! Ha!)
Zelgadis pulled a face. "I promised her I'd cosplay, but there was no way in hell I was dressing up as that pansy."
In spite of herself, Lina snorted in laughter. "Well, Squall is definitely cooler. Gunblade or no, he can kick Tamahome's ass any day."
Zelgadis returned her grin. "I think so, too. I've always been more of a gamer anyway."
"Oh, really? Hey, did you hear that they're making a sequel to Final Fantasy X?"
Zelgadis' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No, actually," he said, intrigued. "When did this happen?"
"They released the promo sketches of it at the Japan Gamers Con. I saw the screenshots online."
"That's exciting. This would be the first Final Fantasy sequel ever."
"I know! And I really liked ten, too."
"Yeah! So did I."
"What'd you think about the ending?"
"Oh, god.that ending. It.didn't really make any sense."
"I know! And I was sooo upset what they did with Tidus. I mean, you play all that time-only to get that?"
Zelgadis laughed again. "Thirty hours of your life you'll never get back."
"I know!" she exclaimed, also laughing.
But the pleasant conversation was cut abruptly short when Zelgadis' wristwatch beeped. Checking the time, he frowned. Amelia would be coming out of her panel soon. "And I haven't gotten anything for her yet," he muttered under his breath. Quickly, he returned to scanning the table. "Hey, Filia. Give me the Saiyuki phone strap."
Filia quickly moved to oblige, retrieving the requested item from under the plastic covering on the table, and handing it to Lina to ring up. "Anything else? Nothing for you?"
"Oh, yeah. Do you have Hikaru no Go nineteen?"
Filia nodded and went got the item, adding it to his total purchases. "Is that it?"
"Yeah," he said, reaching for his wallet.
Lina hurried to tally up the total, feeling slightly disappointed about the Saiyuki phone strap (she had wanted one herself), and quoted his total. After taking his money, she handed him his change (discreetly taking the time to let her fingers linger for a brief moment on his), bagged his purchases with receipt in the bag, and wish him a nice day. He smiled and thanked her as he took the bag from her.
And then he was gone.
Just like that.
Lina collapsed in her chair. Well, at least that was over with. It was fun while it lasted, this behavior so unlike her. She indulged in this sort of thing so rarely, she might as well 'fess up and admit it was kind of fun acting like a love-struck teenager again, considering she had practically deprived herself of it when she was an actual teen. He would meet up with his girlfriend and they would continue living their way and she would never see him again. Out of sight, out of mind.
"You okay, Lina?"
"Hm? Of course."
"Jus.making sure."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The physical labor from the wee hours of the morning caught up with them by then and by the time Lina climbed into the truck to drive home, she could do little more than lean back and close her eyes and listen to the radio and feel the not quite unpleasant pain radiate throughout her body. They didn't do as well as they hoped, but it hadn't been a total waste either. This day would be lost as one of the more unmemorable ones they've had, and life would go on. Xellos would tabulate the earnings and probably just shrug his shoulders and go on. Just like Filia would soon pass this off as just another one of the many parts of the job description and eventually forget about the horrendous little details that vaguely came more as a feeling than an actual memory about her part time during college. And Lina would go home tonight and unwind and then look over some hideous economics problems and wonder for the umpteenth time why she bothered signing up for a class she obviously was going to have a total disregard for the norms of anyway.
At least that was the plan, and a pretty mundane plan at best, Lina thought dully as she waved goodbye to Filia and opened the front gate to her apartment complex, but one that had to be done at any rate. There were, after all, so many things to get done, and life didn't stop for anything. It went on and on and on..
Stopping only to retrieve her mail, Lina didn't stop thinking these depressing thoughts for one instant, relying instead on her feet's instincts to carry her to the narrow staircase leading to the second floor. Which is why she really didn't catch herself from running into the figure descending said stairs at that exact moment and ended up in a graceless pile on the floor, mail and keys and limbs scattered every which way.
"Oh, Jeezus, sorry!" she heard as she started to pick herself up. Immediately, she set about to gather her mail and look for those damn keys that probably flew ten feet and looked up to yell at this offender (never mind she was the one not looking) when her eyes and brain once again had agreement and Lina's mouth dropped open.
"YOU!"
And then again, sometimes even the most mundane days were really life's way of kicking you in the pants.